Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney has allowed the release of all of its reports on the 1976 plane crash that killed 11 people.
Former Sabah chief minister Harris Mohd Salleh’s lawyers confirmed the matter to Malay Mail.
Alex Decena and Jordan Kong said the Australian government will be handing the reports to their firm, Messrs Jayasuriya Kah & Co, who will then make the documents public.
They could not confirm, however, the timeline of when the reports would be given to them.
Malay Mail cited documents stating that the Australian tribunal made its decision to release the nation’s reports in accordance with Section 40 of Australia’s Archives Act 1983.
Section 40 of the Act allows for applications to be made to access the national archives.
Harris filed an application on May 12 last year to the National Archives of Australia to release the reports.
The Australian reports that are set to be released include the 50-page GAF Investigation Team report, also known as “Record B5535”.
A complementary two-part report known as “Record B638” will also be released.
No sabotage, negligence probable
Malaysia had also declassified its federal investigation report on the incident earlier this month after the Kota Kinabalu High Court issued a mandamus order directing the government to initiate the required steps to make the report public.
Among those killed in the 1976 plane crash, also known as the “Double Six Tragedy”, were then Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens.
Also killed in the June 6 incident were then-state ministers Salleh Sulong, Peter Mojuntin, and Chong Thien Vun.
Others who died were state assistant minister Darius Binion, Sabah Finance Ministry permanent secretary Wahid Peter Andau, Isak Atan (private secretary to then finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), Said Mohammad (Fuad’s bodyguard), pilot Gandhi Nathan, and Fuad’s eldest son Johari Stephens.
The declassified federal investigation report revealed there was no element of sabotage found, concluding that the most probable cause of the accident was the plane’s centre of gravity being off-balance.
The report also pointed fingers at the flight’s pilot Gandhi Nathan - whom it painted as having a poor track record.
Gandhi’s son, Nizam, claimed there were many discrepancies and loopholes in Malaysia’s federal investigation report.
Nizam said that it was near impossible to now verify the accuracy of the investigative methods employed and the integrity of the investigators as the report was only released almost five decades after the incident.
However, he said that the Australian report on the crash was also unlikely to provide much in terms of answers as it was done by its government. - Mkini
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