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.
AirAsia is the world’s biggest customer of the A321neo single-aisle aircraft and runs an all-Airbus fleet of 274 planes.
AirAsia co-founders Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun have both denied wrongdoing and relinquished their executive roles for at least two months while the SFO’s allegations are probed.
