THE private jet company engaged by Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied that the plane chartered by the Pakatan Harapan chairman was sabotaged.

VistaJet said its own findings corroborated those of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), which ruled out sabotage of the plane meant to transport the former prime minister to Langkawi on Friday.

“VistaJet confirms the recent statements of the Malaysian authorities that one of the company’s aircraft had a technical issue in its normal course of operations before departure, which at no point jeopardised safety,” The Star quoted a press statement by VistaJet International as saying.

The company said another aircraft was immediately made available to Dr Mahathir.

Dr Mahathir, who is contesting the Langkawi federal seat, said on Friday that the flight he boarded did not take off after the pilot announced that the plane had been damaged and immediate repairs were not possible.

He said he was lucky that the pilot had detected the fault in time.

The problem was a loss of air pressure from a nose wheel, according to CAAM.

Putrajaya has since then restored Dr Mahathir’s full security detail. – April 30, 2018.