DR M & NUFAM DROP TWIN BOMBSHELLS: NAJIB WAS INTERFERING IN MAS, KHAZANAH DOESN’T KNOW A THING ABOUT MANAGING AN AIRLINE

KHAZANAH Nasional Bhd should take responsibility for the latest resignation of Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Peter Bellew and withdraw its management team, said the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam).

“Khazanah does not know how to manage an airline. They are only good at giving instructions and using the government’s name to reject internal changes  ,” said Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddin at a press conference this afternoon.

“Khazanah has managed MAS for a long time now, but the problems never seem to end.”

Nufam also questioned if Khazanah had prior knowledge of Bellew’s resignation.

Irish budget airline Ryanair’s announcementon Tuesday that Bellew would return to its fold as chief operating officer on December 1 came as a shock to MAS, as Bellew had publicly said last month that he would stay with MAS.

Bellew said his return to Ryanair was a form of “national service“.

Bellew joined MAS on September 1, 2015, as COO, following a restructuring plan by Khazanah that saw the retrenchment of 6,000 MAS employees.

He took over the post of CEO from Christoph Mueller on July 1 last year after the German quit MAS less than a year into his contract, citing personal reasons.

Bellew is the second CEO to leave earlier than the contract period. Mueller left two years before the end of his contract.

‘Stop lying, Bellew quit MAS because of Najib’

MEANWHILE, according to Malaysiakini:

Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not appear to believe that former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) CEO Peter Bellew quit the national airline on his own accord.

Instead, the former premier claimed that Bellew quit because of interference from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

“Stop lying. Bellew stopped because Najib interfered in MAS management without referring to the company director and manager,” Mahathir wrote on his blog.

Malaysiakini has contacted Najib’s aide for a response to Mahathir’s allegations.

Bellew (photo) made a surprise exit from MAS on Tuesday, and will be returning to Irish airline RyanAir as chief operating officer.

While MAS was caught off guard by the announcement, Bellew himself denied allegations that he left due to interference from sovereign wealth fund Khazanah.

“I tried to be transparent on a daily basis, included them (Khazanah) in most significant meetings and dragged their staff to work for us! It has worked well. There has been no interference,” he said.

Mahathir’s allegations centred around Najib’s announcement of MAS purchasing Boeing aircraft during his meeting with US president Donald Trump last month.

The deal between MAS and Boeing is expected to be worth up to US$20 billion.

Bellew had previously said that Mahathir’s take on the deal – that it was unilateral and at the expense of business considerations – was inaccurate.

-https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/

-https://www.malaysiakini.com