AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes steps aside amid Airbus bribery probe
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia’s colorful chief executive Tony Fernandes has stepped aside from the company while authorities probe unusual payments at the Malaysian carrier, as the fallout from a $4 billion bribery fine at Airbus reverberates across the industry.
The shock decision came after Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) released details of a probe that found individuals associated with the planemaker had paid to secure deals with AirAsia and its long-haul unit AirAsia X. Fernandes and executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun said in a statement late Monday: “We are relinquishing our executive roles with immediate effect for a period of two months, or such other period that the companies may deem fit.”
They added that they “categorically deny any and all allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct on our part as directors of AirAsia. We would not harm the very companies that we spent our entire lives building up to their present global status”. They will remain with the airline as advisors, they said.
Malaysia’s anti-corruption commission said on Saturday it was empowered to investigate any act of corruption committed by citizens or permanent residents anywhere outside the country. Two other agencies in Malaysia, including the aviation agency and the Securities Commission, reportedly have started their own probe. Fernandes has been one of Airbus’s most loyal customers and his Malaysia-based budget airline, which he bought for one ringgit (25 cents at the current rate) in 2001, is the European manufacturer’s largest customer for single-aisle jets. Airbus is the only plane supplier to AirAsia.
The news has sent shares in AirAsia plunging 20.9 percent since Monday following the release of the SFO’s investigation, with the price at its lowest since September 2015. Tan Kam Meng, analyst with local brokerage TA Securities, warned of further losses if Fernandes and Kamarudin are charged.