THE directors of AirAsia Group had given their nod of approval for Tan Sri Tony Fernandes to build the AirAsia brand through sponsorships, having approved amounts of up to US$250 mil sought for a sponsorship strategy via a Formula 1 racing team.
According to The Star, an unnamed source close to the matter had raised questions of how emails for sponsorships in 2010 to 2011 could be used as evidence for sponsorships in 2013 to 2015. The source had also shared that the sponsorship was a way to lift the AirAsia brand to be globally recognisable.
This is linked to the matter of Fernandes and his partner Datuk Kamarudin Meranun being tied to allegations of corruption involving monies paid for the sponsorship of the Caterham Formula 1 racing team after it was reported that Airbus will pay a settlement of €3.6 bil in penalties after admitting to bribery in its international dealings.
In documents that have been released after the settlement, a trail of emails showed the interactions between Airbus and AirAsia, which the source now claimed to contain mismatches between the timelines of some of the emails released and the charges being levied against Airbus by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
“The source said the content of the emails released before October 2013 were not part of the charge against Airbus. Prior to October 2013, AirAsia secured sponsorships totalling US$66 mil from Airbus that was not related to the charge brought by the SFO as the sponsorship amounts of an additional US$50 mil in the charge sheet were from October 2013 to January 2015,” noted The Star.
The questions of whether or not Fernandes acted improperly, and whether or not he overbought planes for AirAsia to secure the sponsorship, are now being raised. Analysts at the time had stated that the purchase of 200 planes for US$18.2 bil in June 2011 was a necessity, considering it had been about four years since the previous plane order by AirAsia.
The source also called for Airbus to allow Fernandes to disclose the price of the planes he acquired for the AirAsia group, “and compare it to the price Airbus sold its aircraft to other airlines at that time.” – Feb 19, 2020
