PUTRAJAYA has no plans to spend RM5 billion to help Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) recover from the business shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

“As a Khazanah Nasional board member, this is the first time I am hearing about this.

“While I don’t want to comment on it, my sincere answer is that I have not heard anything about this.

“I have not heard from the MAB chairman, or any other board members, or from the Khazanah chairman that funds will be injected into MAB,” he said at the Employees Provident Fund headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said though it was up to Khazanah, as the majority shareholder in the national airline, to decide on the matter, the Finance Ministry would know of such a plan if it existed.

Tengku Zafrul was asked to comment on a Bloomberg report yesterday that cited sources as saying that Khazanah was mulling fresh funds of up to RM5 billion to help MAB.

The report said MAB would use the fresh capital to resume suspended operations and that the cash infusion could start in the coming weeks if it is approved.

Malaysia Airlines was also reported as saying that discussions with Khazanah were ongoing, adding that the shareholder was supportive of the airline’s efforts to cope with the impacts of the pandemic. – June 12, 2020.