THE Employees Provident Fund (EPF) disposed close to 8 million shares in AirAsia Group Bhd (AAGB), few days before news broke that executives of the low cost airline had allegedly received bribes from European planemaker Airbus SE.
EPF had disposed 492,500 and 7.44 million shares on the open market on Jan 29 and 28 respectively, AAGB said in its Bursa filings. The fund now holds a 6.3% stake or 210.49 million shares in AAGB.
Citing UK court documents, FocusM reported on Feb 1 that directors and/or employees of the low-cost carrier and its long-haul arm AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) were allegedly the recipients of a US$50 mil (RM205 mil) bribe from Airbus.
According to British prosecutors, Airbus paid the sum to sponsor a sports team jointly owned by two unnamed AirAsia executives in Malaysia. Airbus allegedly made the payment to secure an order for 180 aircraft.
The documents also said Airbus employees also attempted to pay an additional US$55 mil to the directors and/or employees of AirAsia and AAX but were prevented by an October 2014 freeze on payments to agents and intermediaries.
AirAsia and AAX are now subject to public and regulatory scrutiny. The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said in a Feb 3 statement that it would review whether there had been any contravention of its regulations and guidelines following the graft allegations.
Mavcom said AirAsia and AAX, being holders of air service licences issued by the commission, and their key responsible persons are subject to the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 (Act 771) and its Guidelines on Fit and Proper Person.
According to a Guardian report in November 2015, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, respectively Group CEO and executive chairman of AAGB, and major shareholders are listed as shareholders of Queens Parks Rangers. Fernandes and Meranun were also co-chairmen of former F1 team Caterham.
Fernandes and Kamarudin are top executives and key shareholders of AirAsia.
Of AirAsia’s current board of directors of seven, besides Fernandes and Kamarudin there are four who are independent and one non-independent. In another Bursa filing in the late evening on Feb 3, AAGB announced that the Fernandes and Kamarudin will relinquish their executive positions within the group, effective immediately, following an Airbus bribery probe. The airline said the relinquishment would be for a period of two months or such other period that the company may deem fit.
AirAsia and AAX shares closed down 10.49% and 7.69% to RM1.28 and 12 sen, respectively, on Feb 3. The benchmark FBM KLCI, however, was only down 0.6% to close at 1,521.95 points. – Feb 3, 2020
