KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is pressing on with his claims that his chartered private jet to Langkawi was “sabotaged”, despite clarification by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and the aircraft company, Vista Jet, that no such incident took place.
Dr Mahathir, in a statement on Monday, said CAAM’s explanation was only tantamount to a denial, and “not the result of a proper investigation.”
Dr Mahathir said he had flown “thousand of times in private jets” and that there has never been a serious enough incident to warrant the jet being grounded.
“This is the first time I have to experience damage to the front wheel of the airplane. At other times engine may not be functioning well and they could be repaired in time but this damage to the front wheel of the plane is a very serious damage,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said the leakage from the fluid of the front wheel means that “the front wheel cannot steer the plane.”
“This is a very serious thing because it may result in the plane going off track when taking off or landing,” he explained.
Dr Mahathir also described as “sheer nonsense” an explanation by Vista Jet that another aircraft was offered to him after the incident.
He maintained that he tried to borrow an aircraft from his friends.
“I contacted three friends. Normally they would lend me their aircraft. But this time they refused to lend their aircraft and one of them indicated he is under pressure not to lend his aircraft.”
He said it was fortunate that he had a friend who had chartered a plane to Singapore, and managed to convince his friend to let the plane take him to Langkawi.
“So combining the two facts - that the plane is damaged and cannot fly and I cannot get my friends to lend me their plane - it is logical to believe that there is a deliberate attempt to stop me from going to Langkawi. If I wasted more time, I might not be able to be nominated on the 28th (of May),” he said.
He said it is well known that CAAM “does not have a very tight security all over the country to ensure that planes are not tampered with.”
“So I maintain my belief that the plane was deliberately tampered with to stop me from going to Langkawi,” he said.
Dr Mahathir originally made the claim on Friday, and claimed that had the pilot not detected the “sabotage”, he would have “died in a crash.”
A CAAM investigation subsequently found no such evidence of sabotage. CAAM chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman had said that the aircraft was unable to fly due to air leakage from the left hand nose wheel, which is a minor and routine technical fault.
Private jet charter, VistaJet, had also corroborated CAAM's statement that there was no indication of sabotage to the plane, adding that another VistaJet aircraft was immediately made available to fulfil Dr Mahathir's schedule.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who had ordered an investigation into Dr Mahathir’s claim, said it was a serious accusation.
"This is a serious accusation. At the same time, we hope this is not a political stunt,” said Liow.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir’s lawyer, Haniff Khatri Abdulla, said there was no offer made for the use of another jet.