MAS explains weight-cheating claims, MP not convinced
National carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has dismissed allegations that its general sales agent in Dhaka, Bangladesh had committed fraud against the airlines by under declaring cargo weight transported by the airline.
Its corporate services senior general manager Dr Mohamadon Abdullah said there was "no point" for its agent - Silkways Cargo Services Ltd - to under declare as the commission given to the freight company was based on the flight manifest record obtained from the final destination.
Mohamadon told reporters this after a meeting with DAP member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok yesterday. MAS cargo senior general manager ong Jyh Jong was also present.
National carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has dismissed allegations that its general sales agent in Dhaka, Bangladesh had committed fraud against the airlines by under declaring cargo weight transported by the airline.
Its corporate services senior general manager Dr Mohamadon Abdullah said there was "no point" for its agent - Silkways Cargo Services Ltd - to under declare as the commission given to the freight company was based on the flight manifest record obtained from the final destination.
Mohamadon told reporters this after a meeting with DAP member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok yesterday. MAS cargo senior general manager ong Jyh Jong was also present.
Ground-handling agent
The issue of weight-cheating claims was brought up by Kok after a MAS senior employee lodged two police reports against Silkways on April 21 and May 26.
In the reports, the complainant alleged that Silkways has committed fraud by under-declaration, manipulating the shipment data and offering inducement worth millions of ringgit to MAS officials to slip through the under-reporting.
Silkways is a company co-owned by MP for Shah Alam and Parliamentary Backbenchers club chairperson Mohd Zin Mohamed (right).
Mohamadon also raised several points at the press conference to rebuke the complaints.
He claimed Silkways does not have the mechanism to make any under-declaration as the ground-handling agent in Dhaka airport is not the freight company.
"Our ground handling agent for both passenger and cargo is Bangladeshi Biman Airlines, the only ground handler at Dhaka airport.
"All air cargo shipment out of Dhaka airport is lodged with the ground-handling agent who is responsible for preparing the cargo for uplift, which includes acceptance, weighing, documentation and loading the aircraft," explained Mohamadon.
He added that the commission paid by MAS to the agent was according to weight recorded on the flight manifest at the final destination and therefore the agent would not gain any advantage from under-declaration.
The manager also brushed aside the information storage media documents - copies of which were attached in the police reports earlier to show the discrepancies - as they were merely for internal references.
"There are only two sets of document that we take into account; the airway bill (weighing record done at the point of origin) and the flight manifest and figures on these two documents match each other," he told reporters.
'Detected earlier'
Mohamadon explained that the weight on information storage media has led to the misunderstanding because it might include weight of pallets and other different garments.
Citing example, he said extra weight could be put onto another cargo when the agent received a 1800kg garments but the pallet could only load 1600kg garments.
"Therefore we might top up the extra 200kg garments to another cargo and the alleged discrepancies happened here because the information storage media record done at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport included this extra weight," Mohamadon said.
On the police reports, he said the cases were detected earlier during the random pick check. Following that, the airlines has submitted a discrepancy report and billed the sub-agent responsible under Silkways.
Responding to a joint letter from six MAS sub-agents (freight forwarders) last July to the national carrier against Silkways for 'weight cheating', the manager claimed it was due to "business rivalry".
"Those not selected as our agent must be very unhappy since being a MAS sales agent is a very lucrative deal. Anyway, Silkways has reached our target ever year and we will continue utilising their services next year," Mohamadon said.
To a question that the complainant would not gain any benefit if he had made a false report, he replied, "You have to ask the complainant".
Monitoring system
Meanwhile, Kok said she was "disappointed and unconvinced" with the explanation provided by the officials which was "so protective of Silkways".
"But what I believe is that MAS' "earlier detection" was only made after the police reports were lodged.
"They said the discrepancies was detected earlier but documents showed the airline only billed the sub-agent on May 12, three weeks after the first police report," Kok said.
On her next course of action, the MP said she would first convey the airline's explanation to the complainant.
