AirAsia board gave bosses nod to seek sponsorship

Updated 4 years ago · Published on 19 Feb 2020 8:45AM · 4 Comments

Tony Fernandes has relinquished his duties as AirAsia CEO for two months, pending investigations into corruption allegations between the budget carrier and Airbus. – AFP pic, February 19, 2020.

TONY Fernandes’ attempts to grow the AirAsia brand through sponsorships had the backing of the board, The Star reports today.

AirAsia Group’s board of directors approved plans to seek up to US$250 million (RM1 billion) to build a Formula One racing team from scratch in 2010, a source told the English daily.

Fernandes and AirAsia co-founder Kamarudin Meranun are implicated in alleged corrupt practices after the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began investigations into European aircraft maker Airbus SE.

Airbus allegedly paid US$50 million (RM210 million) and offered another US$55 million to sponsor a sports team affiliated with two unnamed executives who were described as “key decision-makers” at AirAsia and AirAsia X.

It was also reported that AirAsia then ordered 180 aircraft from Airbus and the two executives were later “rewarded for the purchase of the aircraft” in a deal described as “contracts obtained through improper channel”.

Earlier this month, Airbus admitted to illegally trying to sway decision-makers in sales and agreed to a record US$4 billion settlement.

The corruption allegations forced Fernandes, who also faces corruption charges in India, to step aside as AirAsia CEO for two months, as has Kamarudin.

The Star said today a trail of emails between Airbus and the two executives show mismatches between the timestamp of some emails and the charges levied against Airbus by SFO.

Emails released before October 2013 were not part of the charge against Airbus, the source told the paper, questioning the use of emails from 2010 to 2011 as evidence for sponsorships in 2013 to 2015.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating AirAsia Group over the SFO’s allegations.

The agency will study the SFO’s documents first before questioning Kamarudin and Fernandes, it said. – February 19, 2020.

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Comments

  • Money went to individual pocket can be suspicious of corrupt practice. MACC must investigate.

    Posted 4 years ago by James Wong · Reply

  • Why did the money go to the F1 team without going through the AirAsia books? How is AirAsia repaid for any sponsorship to the F1 team? Was there any contract?

    Posted 4 years ago by Yoon Kok · Reply

  • Airbus was the sponsor for catterham, not AirAsia

    Posted 4 years ago by H. Mokhtar · Reply

  • Very simple what. If board approved plans to seek sponsorship then the f1 team must belong to air Asia and not tony and Kama. Tony trying to spin media now through unnamed sources.

    Posted 4 years ago by Kinetica Cho · Reply