Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday payments received to offset the costs of a high-value order could not be constituted as a bribe.
Mahathir was replying to questions by reporters on the controversial sponsorship deal that executives of Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd struck with the budget carrier’s sole plane supplier Airbus.
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said last week that the European aircraft manufacturer paid a bribe of $50 million to executives of AirAsia and its long-haul arm AirAsia X to win plane orders.
