PETALING JAYA: Economist Yeah Kim Leng says an offset in business transactions is meant to create a win-win situation for both parties but the details should be made public to create an even playing field.
Otherwise, Yeah said, it might create unequal competition if others were not aware of the offset.
“That could distort business dealings,” he told FMT.
He was responding to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who earlier today said that asking for an offset in a business transaction was a normal practice, provided the money was not pocketed.
The prime minister said normally when the government procures equipment, they would ask for an offset.
“And whether you regard an offset as a bribery, that’s up to you,” he told reporters after an event in Putrajaya.
Mahathir was asked to comment on corruption allegations involving budget airline AirAsia and Airbus.
Yeah, a professor of economics at Sunway University, said the key to an offset was transparency and “openess because the negotiations may not be available to other competing parties”.
Yeah, who was formerly the group chief economist at RAM Holdings Bhd, added that it was true that an offset did not involve personal benefits and “it is the lesser of two evils” but there should be integrity.
He added that this was why any offset should be made public.
Reports citing legal documents alleged that Airbus paid US$50 million (RM204 million), and offered US$55 million more, to sponsor a sports team linked to two unnamed “key decision-makers” at AirAsia and AirAsia X.
The documents are part of a multi-billion dollar settlement reached with anti-graft authorities in Britain, France and the US, after the European plane maker admitted to bribery in its international business.
AirAsia Group Berhad has rejected the claims.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Securities Commission are both probing the matter.
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