Former Australia, Malaysia leaders talk freely about MH370 pilot suicide theory
Investigators can't definitively establish cause of missing plane without black boxes, wreckage
Malaysia has never ruled out the possibility that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could have been downed by a suicidal pilot, the country's former prime minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday.
Najib, who was premier when MH370 vanished with 239 people on board nearly six years ago, was responding to remarks by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott that Malaysian leaders had considered from the outset that flight captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah may have committed mass murder.
"My very clear understanding, from the very top levels of the Malaysian government, is that from very, very early on, they thought it was murder-suicide by the pilot," said Abbott, who was Australia's prime minister from 2013 to 2015.
"I'm not going to say who said what to whom, but let me reiterate, I want to be absolutely crystal clear, it was understood at the highest levels that this was almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot."
Abbott made his comments in a two-part Sky News documentary airing in Australia this week about one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries, the MH370 flight that disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
Najib told online news portal Free Malaysia Today that Malaysian officials had considered such a scenario during their investigation but had chosen not to make their views public.
"It would have been deemed unfair and legally irresponsible since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found and hence, there was no conclusive proof whether the pilot was solely or jointly responsible," Najib was quoted as saying.
"Again I must stress that this possible scenario was never ruled out during the search effort and investigations, where no effort was spared."
A spokesperson for Najib confirmed his remarks.
Malaysia's transport ministry declined to comment. Authorities had previously said there was nothing suspicious in the captain's background, training or mental health, but did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course.
Plane's course changed manually
Najib said there were several reasons for authorities to suspect Zaharie's involvement, including his ownership of a home flight simulator and findings showing that MH370's transponders were switched off shortly after the plane left Malaysian airspace.
Malaysia, China and Australia called off a two-year, A$200 million ($177 million Cdn) underwater search in the southern Indian Ocean in January 2017 after finding no trace of the aircraft.
A second three-month search, led by U.S. firm Ocean Infinity, ended similarly in May 2018.
A Malaysian-led independent investigation report released in 2018 said the plane's course was changed manually but did not name a suspect and raised the possibility of "intervention by a third party." Investigators, however, said the cause of the disappearance couldn't be determined until the wreckage and the plane's black boxes are found.
The pilot's family has long denied he was suicidal. The 2018 investigative report said there was no evidence of abnormal behaviour or stress in the two pilots and none of the passengers had pilot training.
Najib lost a general election that month. He is now facing dozens of corruption charges over alleged involvement in a multibillion-dollar scandal at a state fund. He has pleaded not guilty.
With files from The Associated Press