KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd (AirAsia) co-founders Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun has been cleared by BDO Governance Advisory Sdn Bhd (BDO) from corruption allegations related to the Airbus scandal.
The allegations were based on the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) document that revealed Airbus had paid US$50 million and offered US$55 million more to sponsor a sports team linked to two unnamed executives from the airlines.
The document read AirAsia and AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) ordered 406 aircraft from Airbus between October 2005 and November 2014.
This included 180 aircraft secured during the indictment period by way of improper payment made by Airbus and the offer of a further improper payment.
BDO, an independent expert appointed by board committee for AirAsia and AAX Bhd in undertaking the independent review, has resolved to reinstate executive positions of Fernandes and Kamarudin as group chief executive officer (CEO) and executive chairman of AirAsia respectively.
Consequently, it added the appointment of Tharumalingam Kanagalingam as the acting chief executive officer has been rescinded.
In an exchange filing today, AirAsia said BDO had yesterday presented and accepted their report on the findings of the independent internal inquiry as well as conducted its meeting without the presence of the two executives.
Consequently, the appointment of Tharumalingam a/l Kanagalingam as the acting chief executive officer has been rescinded.
The low-cost carrier said the group has a robust aircraft procurement process, citing that its aircraft acquisition was justifiable and at prices favourable to the group.
“AirAsia’s sponsorship of the sports team by Airbus was approved in compliance with its procedures and was disclosed to and supported by AirAsia’s board at the relevant time.’
It added the sponsorship showed demonstrable benefits to the AirAsia and was not linked to any purchase decisions by the group.
“The two executives (Fernandes and Kamarudin) had properly disclosed their interests to AirAsia’s board and abstained from discussions and/or decisions relating to the said sponsorships.”
AirAsia had previously said it was neither involved in any way whatsoever with the SFO’s investigation of Airbus nor given any opportunity to provide any information or clarification to the SFO.