'Stop lying, Bellew quit MAS because of Najib'

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 on 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. -Mkini