KUALA LUMPUR – Six months before the shock decision to suspend operations, MYAirline staff had already felt something was wrong with the company’s financials, two of them said.
The first signs came in April when they found that their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributions never reached their accounts, the staffers said, requesting anonymity as they are still employed with the airline.
They felt the company’s financial problems were swept under the rug by the management, which appeared to prioritise leasing more planes instead of paying employees their dues.
The two staffers spoke to Scoop in the days after the press conference by MYAirline’s interim accountable executive Datuk Seri Azharuddin Rahman, who admitted that there was no contingency plan to deal with the airline’s financial problems and the last-minute withdrawal of a potential investor.
‘False’ EPF contributions an early warning sign
The two staffers, one working with ground operations and the other who has been in aviation for many years, said that although salary deductions for EPF and Socso contributions were shown on their payslips, no actual deduction was made and placed in their accounts.
Some staff had these “false deductions” begin in April, and in May for others. Under Section 48(3) of the EPF Act 1991, employers who deduct contributions from wages but fail to pay the deducted sum in the EPF can be imprisoned or fined not more than RM20,000, or both.
“I have lost faith that the amount of (EPF and Socso) contributions owed to us will be repaid,” said one staffer.
“The amounts are piling up and by (my) logic, there is no way an investor would come in to pay for (these) debts.”
He said when staff raised concerns about the missing EPF and Socso contributions, the airline’s management would merely assure them that new investors would be coming in to pay them their dues.
Meanwhile, salaries were paid – albeit later than usual – until September, a month before the shock decision to suspend operations.
“(Since) September, that’s when everybody just isn’t getting their salary anymore,” he said, adding that although rumours had swirled among staffers about the company’s financial situation, they were never addressed by the management.
He said he had little hope that new investors would come on board, especially now that the airline’s co-founder and family members have been nabbed by the authorities for investigations into alleged money-laundering activities.
Staff want answers from authorities
As is being questioned by many, the two staffers also want to know how aviation regulators were able to approve MYAirline’s licences and certificates. The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), for instance, even gave the airline’s safety audit a pass with “no indications of financial distress”.
“How can the authorities let this slip under their radar and grant the required licence to this company, when the co-founder was alleged to have tainted financial records even before the company came into operation last year?
“When the EPF and Socso contributions for staff stopped, this should have been flagged and the (relevant) authorities should have stepped in to question the management. But we didn’t see that happening.”
The other staffer told Scoop the whole episode had raised doubts with “many unanswered questions about the integrity of authorities involved in approving the licence for this airline”.
“Especially for Azharuddin who was formerly chairman of CAAM. He should have known better,” said the staffer.
Azharuddin resigned from CAAM in 2018, taking responsibility for some of the controversial findings in the MH370 report regarding air traffic control lapses.
In filings with the Malaysian Companies Commission, Azharuddin was named as one of MYAirline’s directors.
Shock suspension
Both staffers said airline employees were as confused, frustrated and angry as the 125,000 affected passengers upon learning of MYAirline’s operational shutdown on October 12.
Adding insult to injury was the manner in which staff were informed – some knew while others did not until it was reported in the news.
One staffer said he heard about the suspension at 2am on October 12 from another colleague who passed on instructions that no employee was to come to the office or be at the airport counters for security reasons.
The pilots and cabin crew, however, were only told of the suspension at 5am in an email blast, said the older staffer.
The reason for being told at the very last minute, it seemed, was that “there were concerns that the pilot might have hijacked the plane and jeopardised passengers’ safety”, he said.
“(That) is such a ridiculous thought. Everybody is (a) professional.”
‘Great colleagues, but not the C-suite’
Those who have not resigned are in limbo – employed, yet not getting paid – and find it difficult to decide what to do.
Some are holding on to Azharuddin’s promise that a new investor would be found to revive the airline and outstanding salaries would be paid.
What also makes resigning hard is the colleagues who have supported each other through thick and thin.
“You would rarely get such a good environment and colleagues who are this good,” said one staffer.
“We enjoyed working (with each other) so much that some didn’t mind being recalled to work on their day off.
“The only problem was the chief operating officer, chief executive officer… all those in the C-suite.”
Both staffers said their immediate supervisors are caring and supportive, and since the crisis unfolded, colleagues have been looking after one another.
“In my department, we have been sending supportive messages to one another, checking on each other,” said one.
“Even till today, I am not ready to see it all go down the drain.” – October 23, 2023