PADANG RENGAS, March 25– Malaysia Airlines (MAS)'s purchase of 30 new aircraft from Boeing was made according to existing procedures and did not involve any particular interests, stressed the Political Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim.

He said the process of acquiring commercial aircraft is not new and has been carried out since long in accordance with the existing policies and approaches of the national airline.

"The process of purchasing this aircraft is long, takes many years... several terms and prices need to be coordinated and agreed upon.

"It was only recently agreed upon by all parties and we signed it. We have bought Boeing before, what is the problem? That is indeed the policy and approach used by MAS before,” he said.

Muhammad Kamil said this to the media after attending the Padang Rengas Parliament’s Iftar Ceremony and Aidilfitri Charity Donation Presentation last night.

The statement was in response to claims by Gerakan President Dominic Lau that the purchase of the aircraft was allegedly in exchange for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim meeting former US President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Kamil also announced that a special allocation of RM200,000 from the Prime Minister’s Office had been channeled to 1,000 recipients in the Padang Rengas Parliament, as aid in conjunction with the Aidilfitri celebration.

He said that the aid was hoped to ease the burden of the asnaf and the less fortunate.