AirAsia to Mavcom: We have evidence

SEPANG: AirAsia has hit out at the Malaysian Aviation Commission’s (Mavcom) police report against the group’s chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, saying it has evidence that backs his allegations.

Fernandes had accused the aviation agency of pressuring him into cancelling additional flights the airline had arranged to allow thousands of voters to return in time to cast their ballots in GE14.

Mavcom denied his allegations and on Tuesday said it had lodged a police report against the AirAsia boss over his allegations.

However, AirAsia said that Fernandes’ accusation that Mavcom had issued instructions to cancel flights was backed up by evidence, including direct communications between AirAsia Malaysia CEO

Riad Asmat and Mavcom executive chairman Jeneral (Rtd) Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad.

“We will divulge the evidence and facts to the appropriate authorities at the right time,” the airline said in a statement Tuesday.

Mavcom had called Fernandes’ accusations “baseless and malicious”, and gave its breakdown on the timeline of applications for extra flights from AirAsia.

On May 13, Fernandes released a video in which he apologised for his and his airline’s show of support for former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the election campaign period.

He admitted to “buckling under pressure”, saying he had done the video in an effort to protect the company and AirAsia X chairman Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, who was sacked from Umno for her pro-Pakatan Harapan stance.

Fernandes alleged he was being pressured to not only cancel the additional flights but to also sack Rafidah as chairman.