AirAsia chiefs step aside amid probe into Airbus bribery scandal

Two AirAsia chiefs stepped reportedly step aside for at least two months as authorities and airlines look into claims that aerospace paid the company $50 million to secure a plane order. Last week, Airbus said that it had set aside up to 3.6 billion euros to settle a corruption probe by authorities in Britain, France and the United States.

Both employees to leave position immediately

In a late Monday filing on Malaysia’s stock market, the budget carrier reportedly said that its chief executive Tony Fernandez and executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun would leave positions immediately. It later said in a statement that both the employees were to stand down for a period of two months or any other time period the company would deem fit. 

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The airline’s board formed a committee to review the allegations stating Kamarudin and Fernandez would reportedly be kept as company advisors and redesignated as non-independent non-executive board members. Previously after Airbus’s confession of setting aside money to settle corruption probe, Malaysia based AirAsia was named in a bribery investigation by Britain’s serious fraud office (SFO0 allegedly implicating the two company executives. 

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Both Kamarudin and Fernandes have denied any wrongdoing. In a joint statement, both of them said that they “would not harm the very companies that we spent our entire lives building up to their present global status." The airline previously said it was not involved in any way with the SFO's Airbus investigation, nor was it given an opportunity to provide any information to the fraud investigator office. On Saturday, Malaysia's anti-corruption commission said that it was empowered to investigate any act of corruption committed by citizens or permanent residents anywhere outside the country. chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said that in the case of the Airbus-AirAsia disclosures, he could confirm that the Malaysia Anti Corruption Committee is in touch with the British authorities and has already begun investigating the matter.