MALAYSIA AIRLINES had paid consultancy fees amounting to RM1.69mil to BinaFikir Sdn Bhd – 117 times lower than the amount claimed by Wee Choo Keong (Independent-Wangsa Maju).

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai told the House the airline had paid the consultancy firm in 2002 for the Wide­spread Asset Unbundling (WAU) project.

“The implementation of WAU was ap­­proved by MAS’ shareholders in an extraordinary general meeting held on Nov 2, 2002, to carry out a financial restructuring for the airline,” he told Wee who asked how much was paid to BinaFikir in consultancy fees for the WAU project.

Lim said the financial restructuring took about eight months, adding that at the time MAS was suffering a liability of RM7bil and in 2002, its losses were registered at RM835mil.

He said the project had brought positive results to the airline, where it registered profits worth RM339mil and RM461mil in 2003 and 2004, respectively, but added that financial restructuring should not be a permanent solution to any company and that its operations needed to be strong to generate profit.

Lim also told members that it was normal for any contract to have a non-disclosure clause, including those signed by government-linked companies.

“Due to public interest, we will give the information in Parliament after getting the necessary approval,” he said.

-The Star-