AirAsia bosses cleared from allegations of Airbus bribery, reinstated

AirAsia Team Bhd (AirAsia) main executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun have been cleared by the BDO Governance Advisory Sdn Bhd (BDO) from corruption allegations similar to the Airbus scandal.

In February, equally Fernandes and Kamruddin relinquished their executive positions for two months next allegation that the airline been given a US$50 million bribe from plane manufacturer Airbus.

The allegations, primarily based on the UK’s Critical
Fraud Business (SFO) doc, stated the airline company had also provided
US$fifty five million extra to sponsor a athletics staff connected to two unnamed executives
from the airlines.

BDO, the unbiased pro appointed by AirAsia
and AirAsia X board committee to undertake the unbiased review, has solved
to reinstate the executive positions of Fernandes and Kamarudin as group main
executive officer (CEO) and executive chairman of AirAsia respectively.

Therefore, the appointment of
Tharumalingam a/l Kanagalingam as the acting main executive officer has been
rescinded.

In an trade submitting to Bursa Malaysia (Malaysia
Stock Exchange) on 20 March, AirAsia claimed the sponsorship of the athletics staff by
Airbus was disclosed to and supported by the Board of Directors of AirAsia Bhd
(AAB) that was renamed AirAsia Team.

It included its sponsorship of the athletics staff
by Airbus “was authorised in compliance with its procedures”, and  was disclosed to and supported by the Board of
Directors of AAB at the suitable time.”

The sponsorship also showed demonstrable
benefits to the AirAsia Team and was not connected to any acquire choices by the
group.

“The two executives (Fernandes and Kamarudin)
had properly disclosed their passions to AirAsia’s board B and abstained from
discussions and/or choices relating to the claimed sponsorships.”

Equally Fernandes and Kamarudin had categorically denied all allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct, and had provided their total cooperation in the investigation.

• Featured image – AirAsia Group’s main executive officer Tony Fernandes (remaining) and executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun – credit score: AirAsia