LANGKAWI (April 29): Former Prime Minister and Pakatan Harapan chief Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who claimed that his charter jet from Subang to here was sabotaged on Friday, maintains that it was done deliberately to stop him from being a parliamentary candidate in the 14th general election.

“If the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says I made a serious allegation, then yes I did because it is a serious incident where I would not have been able to file my nomination papers. I am not accusing CAA but I just want to highlight what had happened to the aircraft which CAA has acknowledged by saying there was damage to the aircraft,” the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia head told some 500 people at a ceramah in Dewan Ho Peng, Kuah.

“What happened to the aircraft is a serious thing ... I believe it was done by someone. I don’t have any proof but there is the possibility that the jet was deliberately damaged to make sure I don’t contest,” Mahathir, 92, added.

He refused to lodge a police report saying that the authority would not investigate his claims but caretaker Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai instructed the CAA to conduct an immediate investigation.

In a statement on Saturday, CAA chairman Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said an investigation was conducted on the allegations of sabotage against the private aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger CL60 registered under Malta tail number 9H-VFD and operated by Vista Jet Ltd.

He said sabotage against an aircraft is an extremely serious allegation, which CAA is duty bound to investigate thoroughly, and that the aircraft documentation found “no recent reported defect except for air leakage from the left hand nose wheel”, logged on April 27.

The tyre was serviced and on monitoring the tyre pressure, found the pressure to be dropping, but the replacement of the tyre could not be carried out because of non-availability of spares.

“Following our thorough investigation, CAA has found that there was no indication whatsoever of any sabotage. The aircraft was unable to fly only due to a minor and routine technical fault, namely air leakage from the left hand nose wheel,” Azharuddin said.

He added that the aircraft sabotage allegations could impact the reputation of Malaysian aviation and the country particularly in the sensitive general election period.

“It is morally wrong to make such wild and false allegations for the sake of political gain,” Azharuddin said.

Mahathir did make it to the nomination centre to file his papers on April 28, enabling him to contest under the PKR logo in a three-cornered fight over the Langkawi parliamentary seat.

He managed to fly to the island on Friday evening after a friend loaned him an aircraft that was initially scheduled to depart for Singapore.

“This was after three friends who owned aircrafts refused to lend me their jets as they were warned against helping me. Hence, my instincts that the first jet was damaged as a form of sabotage,” he added.