THE government at the time never made public its suspicions that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014 had a criminal motive as there was no concrete proof, said Najib Razak.

Najib, who was prime minister at that time, said his government had explored all avenues during the investigation, including the possible involvement of the airplane’s pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

“It would have been deemed unfair and legally irresponsible since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found and hence, there is no conclusive proof whether the pilot was solely or jointly responsible,” Najib was quoted as saying in FMT today.

He said the authorities had also looked into the political affiliations of Zaharie as possible motive for the disappearance of the plane.

“Again I must stress that this possible scenario was never ruled out during the search effort and investigations, where no effort was spared,” he added.

“The pilot is a known active opposition party member who had attended various political activities and the opposition leader had admitted later that the pilot was related to him,” said Najib.

He said this when asked to comment on a claim by former Australian premier Tony Abbott that Malaysian officials had suspected a criminal plot in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Abbott, speaking in a Sky News documentary to be aired tonight, said he had been told by the “highest levels” of Malaysian officials that Zaharie could have committed mass murder. 

Najib also said there were several reasons for the authorities to suspect Zaharie’s involvement, including the fact that the plane’s transponders were switched off at a critical moment, when it was about to enter Vietnam’s air space.

“This suggests that whoever was responsible had intimate knowledge of commercial flights,” he said.

The Pekan MP said investigators also took into account Zaharie’s emotional state of mind, as well as a flight simulator he had in his house which aroused suspicions.

Najib also warned the public against any conclusion blaming the pilot “until and unless the black boxes and voice cockpit recorders are recovered”.

MH370 vanished with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, triggering the biggest hunt in aviation history.

Only a few fragments of the plane have been found, all on western Indian Ocean shores, and search efforts ended in 2018.

Earlier today, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang urged ministers from the previous BN government to come clean on what it knows about the missing plane. – February 19, 2020.