KUALA LUMPUR: Former AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) chief executive officer (CEO) Azran Osman-Rani has clarified that he was not involved in the fictitious RM7 million payments made to a service provider, which happened during his tenure as CEO of the long-haul low-cost carrier.

Azran, who is currently CEO of iflix Malaysia, pointed out that AAX’s external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers did not report any irregularities in the airline’s financials when he was heading the company between 2010 and 2014.

“In all those years, we were audited by an international reputable auditor. And as a CEO, I have to rely on what the auditor finds. In all those years, they never raised anything,” he told digitalEdge DAILY on the sidelines of the World Capital Markets Symposium yesterday.

“It’s quite shocking that this was something that the same auditor never picked up, and suddenly after I left, they picked it up. It’s strange,” he said.

Azran, 43, added that the board should have probably elected a “more independent auditor” if there were really an issue.

Asked if he would cooperate with the authorities on the matter, he said: “Absolutely. I have nothing to hide.”

Azran said that he was kept in the dark regarding the issue, besides what had been disclosed to Bursa Malaysia.

“I don’t have any other details other than the Bursa statement. I have been kept in the dark. It is clearly someone else, and I don’t know what the police report entailed,” he said.

To recap, AAX announced recently its internal and external auditors discovered 24 payments totalling RM7.01 million made to a service provider that were established to be fictitious.

The airline said the payments were authorised by a person in a management position within the company, but did not name the person.

Subsequently, AAX lodged a police report and sought legal advice on the possible courses of action the company can take to recover the losses.

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 4, 2015.