KUALA LUMPUR: Acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein today denied claims that the Malaysian police were revealing confidential information to UK tabloid Daily Mail on the status of MH370 investigations, especially on matters involving pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his family.
Hishammuddin, who is also the Defence Minister, was responding to a question posed by a foreign journalist if police sources were responsible for leaking details of their investigations to Daily Mail.
The daily has been constantly publishing sensational news quoting investigative sources on matters involving Zaharie and his family.
“I can confirm to you that the information did not come from the police and you should ask Daily Mail how they get the information,” Hishammuddin said.
Over the weekend, the tabloid quoted Zaharie’s wife and daughter to claim that the pilot was in an emotional turmoil over the break-up of his marriage.
The article written without a byline also said that Zaharie had been distracted and withdrawn in the weeks before the aircraft’s disappearance – and had allegedly rejected pleas to attend marriage counselling sessions.
The news report quoted Zaharie’s wife, Faizah Khanum Mustafa Khan who allegedly told investigators that the 53-year-old pilot had stopped speaking to her in the weeks before the fateful flight on March 8, and spent time alone in his room where he had built a flight simulator.
Today, his daughter Aishah Zaharie responded angrily by saying that Daily Mail had fabricated quotes attributed to her as she had never spoken to them.
She said she would not forgive the Daily Mail for ‘making up’ stories.
“May God have mercy on you souls. You can bet your a** that I will never forgive you,” Aishah wrote on her Facebook account.
MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya who was also at the press conference today said that Malaysia Airlines had full confidence on their pilots on board the missing jetliner.
“As an organisation we fully cooperate with the investigators. But we know our pilots…of what they are capable of and we know they are qualified to fly the aircraft.
“We have also announced their backgrounds and records,” Jauhari said.
MH370 disappeared from the radar on March 8 while on a routine flight from KLIA to Beijing, with 239 passengers and crew members on board.
Investigators deduced that the plane’s communications and transponder had been disabled, the plane then diverted from its original course and headed towards the Indian Ocean.
