KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had not received any conclusive answers on the exact cause leading to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 until the end of his tenure as the acting Transport Minister.
The Sembrong member of parliament said the investigation team had explored every lead and possibility regarding the missing aircraft, including speculations and theories at that time.
“This was done with the full cooperation of international authorities and to the best of our abilities.
“Over the course of the investigation, new information and leads surfaced on a constant basis, and I have always maintained then that all information needed to be properly verified and all evidence corroborated before further action was taken.
“Unfortunately, until the end of my tenure as the acting transport minister, the investigation team did not report to me any conclusive answers on the exact cause of the missing plane,” he said in a statement today.
Australian former prime minister Tony Abbott has claimed "very top" level Malaysian officials believed the vanished MH370 was deliberated downed by the captain in a mass murder-suicide.
He made the remark in the first part of the documentary titled MH370: The Untold Story by broadcaster Sky News Australia airing this week.
The disappearance of the plane has long been the subject of a host of theories -- ranging from the credible to outlandish -- including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.
Hishammuddin said being transparent, releasing corroborated developments, and establishing what actually happened had always been his priority.
“Revealing anything which has not been corroborated would have affected the ongoing investigations and would be unfair to the families of the passengers onboard MH370 and the general public. It would have been an irresponsible and insensitive thing to do.
“Therefore, I repeat my plea again as I have done previously, to anyone who has any relevant information on this incident which may assist in the investigation to immediately provide it to the relevant authorities for further action.”
The Boeing 777-200ER en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had vanished on March 8, 2014, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members.
No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led search, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January 2017 until Malaysia accepted a “no-cure, no-fee” offer from US exploration firm Ocean Infinity in 2018.
The three-month search covered 112,000 sq km north of the original target area, without any new discovery when it was called off in May 2018.
An official 495-page report in July 2018 stated that MH370 was deliberately taken off course by a person or persons unknown.