MAS sacks steward held for alleged sexual crime, union, lawyers cry foul

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has fired a flight steward languishing in a Paris detention centre since August, even before he is charged and tried for an alleged sexual assault, says the national flight attendants union.

The union, which is crying foul over the sacking, said the action by the loss-making flag carrier was unlawful and against the rules of natural justice.

National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) president Ismail Nasaruddin told The Malaysian Insider that the employee who had served the national carrier for 32 years was notified of his termination in a letter that was sent to his home in the Klang Valley two weeks after the alleged incident.

"This is unprecedented as the letter was sent when he is still languishing in an overseas detention centre," said Ismail.

Ismail said MAS had given the steward 60 days to appeal against the termination on grounds of "misconduct".

"How is he going to appeal when he didn’t know that he was sacked from his employment?" Ismail asked.

The union has referred the matter to the Industrial Relations Department to reinstate the 57-year-old employee.

Ismail alleged that MAS had divorced itself from the case, and had not provided any assistance to the family of the steward.

"It is the Malaysian Embassy in Paris that has been helping our member and his family to cope during this difficult time," said Ismail, who expressed frustration and unhappiness over the way MAS had handled the case.

Ismail also said that MAS wanted to wash its hands off the incident as it was struggling from the negative publicity generated following the missing MH370 flight and downed MH17 flight.

On March 8, Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went off the radar over the South China Sea, an hour after takeoff from the KL International Airport at 12.41am. The aircraft was bound for Beijing, China.

Efforts to locate the aircraft are still ongoing in the southen Indian Ocean but there has been no trace of the jet yet.

Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17 enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. The Boeing 777-200 aircraft is believed to have been shot down by a ground-to-air missile.

Lawyer Ragunath Kesavan said that MAS, as the employer, should have made an effort to secure the release of the steward from the detention centre.

"The employee is deemed innocent until proven guilty by a court and MAS should have gone all the way to secure his freedom from the detention centre," he said.

He said the alleged sexual misdemeanour also took place when the steward was on duty.

Describing the sacking as extremely harsh, Ragunath said that MAS could have suspended him and paid 50% of his wages.

"The sacking is very harsh and the right of the employee's livelihood and his dependants have been affected," added Ragunath, who also handles employment and industrial dispute cases.

He said a domestic inquiry should have been held so that the union or the family members could have appeared before the committee to explain what had transpired.

"MAS could redeem itself by restoring the employment of the cabin crew when the matter comes for conciliation before the (Industrial Relations) department," he added.

Ragunath said a gross injustice had been done to the steward who was still being investigated for the crime in France.

"Why is it taking such a long time? In Malaysia one is detained for only 14 days and thereafter must be charged or freed," he said.

Lawyer Shailender Bhar, who has been engaged by the steward's family, said French police had no jurisdiction to investigate the sexual assault on a passenger as the incident did not take place in that country or its air space.

The lawyer said that under the Tokyo Convention, the steward, who has been held by French police for investigation for sexual assault since August 5, should be sent home for investigation.

The Malaysian Insider understands that under the French criminal procedure code, a suspect could be held until the magistrate supervising the investigation gave the nod to frame charges or free the suspect.

There have been cases of suspects who remained in detention for up to four years although the law allows a maximum of 10 years.

Shailender said that from information gathered so far, the complainant, Australian Laura Bushney, 26, claimed that the first incident had occurred on the Paris-bound MAS Flight MH20 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before the flight took off.

The second incident took place three-and-a-half hours later while the plane flew over the Bay of Bengal, India, in international air space.

French news portal FranceTVInfo first reported that the steward had been detained for sexually assaulting a passenger during the flight.

The passenger had apparently expressed her nervousness about flying over the Indian Ocean following the disappearance of Flight MH370 and the downing of Flight MH17.

The passenger, it was reported, lodged a police report upon reaching the Charles de Gaulle airport on August 5.

The steward was then questioned and, two days later, taken into custody.

Doubts have been cast on Bushney’s allegations, however, after she appeared on an Australian television station to speak about the incident.

She had also recorded part of the alleged assault on her camera phone instead of trying to stop it, which viewers found illogical.

Social media users criticised Bushney after watching the 30-minute interview, calling her story far-fetched and accusing her of “doing it for money”.

Some questioned how she had managed to record the incident if she was indeed as scared as she had claimed.

Others also took issue with “compromising” photos of her on her Instagram account, but those posts have since been deleted. Some, though, said that as the victim, she should not be blamed.

Bushney had said in the programme that the steward had "begged me not to report the incident, while we were still in the air, as he had a wife and a child".

She said the steward took advantage of her fears about flying on MAS following the MH370 and MH17 incidents by sitting next to her and then eventually touching her on her legs and private parts. – November 13, 2014.

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