MYAirline co-founder, wife and son arrested to help in Malaysian money laundering probe
Tan Ai Leng
[KUALA LUMPUR] The major shareholders of crisis-hit Malaysia budget carrier MYAirline were arrested on suspicion of financial crimes on Tuesday (Oct 17) evening, less than a week after the airline abruptly suspended its operations due to financial pressures.
The Royal Malaysia Police confirmed on Wednesday that the trio was arrested to assist in a money laundering probe.
They are the airline’s co-founder and major shareholder Goh Hwan Hua, 57; his wife Neow Ean Lee, 55; and their son Goh Tze Han, 26. They were arrested at their residence in Selangor.
Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, said the police have obtained a four-day remand from Wednesday for the trio to assist in investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.
He added that there are likely to be more arrests as the investigations goes on.
A report by The Edge said Goh Hwan Hua – who was listed as a director of Zilion Wealth and Trillion Cove – was willing to relinquish all his shares in the low-cost carrier if there were potential investors.
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Records from the Companies Commission of Malaysia showed that Zillion Wealth held 99.25 per cent of MYAirline’s shares, with the rest held by Trillion Cove and former chief executive officer Rayner Teo.
Goh Hwan Hua and Neow were also involved in investigations related to e-commerce platform i-Serve Online Mall. The company is believed to have been involved in various offences, including money laundering.
In a statement on Sep 1, Bank Negara said it imposed a fine of RM50 million (S$14.4 million) on i-Serve Online Mall and six other related companies for accepting deposits without a licence between June 2018 and September 2021. The involved companies paid this amount on Nov 16 last year.
On the morning of Oct 12, MYAirline announced on Facebook that it was halting operations, citing financial pressures, just 10 months after it first took to the skies. The carrier serviced mostly domestic routes in Malaysia, with nine aircraft.
Thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports in Malaysia and elsewhere, as the airline failed to notify them ahead of time about the cancellation of flights. In all, about 125,000 people holding tickets worth more than RM20 million for travel until March 2024 have been left in the lurch.
The decision was condemned by Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who said the immediate suspension without a proper plan to protect consumers’ rights was “irresponsible and unacceptable”.
MYAirline’s suspension came days after news broke that Teo had resigned as CEO, citing health reasons.
Chief operating officer Stuart Cross took over as the interim CEO on Oct 8, but he too stepped down after just eight days in charge. Local media reported that company director Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, who is now the interim accountable executive, is running the airline.
He apologised to the public at a press conference on Monday, noting that the situation was “due to lack of a contingency plan, compounded by a last-minute investor withdrawal”.
He added that MYAirline has already initiated a service recovery plan and business continuity plan, with a focus on improvements and increased accountability.
Azharuddin said the company has been actively exploring a new strategic partnership to restart operations and has received several proposals, although he did not give further details. He said there was no timeline as yet for when the airline could resume flying.
Earlier, on Oct 12, the carrier’s board of directors said in a statement: “We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital raising options to prevent this suspension.”
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