Malaysia Airlines’ practice of paying compensation for families of MH17 victims are in line with international practices, the airline said.
 
The airline was commenting on a report published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday claiming that some families of Australian victims have been denied full compensation for the tragedy in July.
 
“The payment is being made in recognition of a non-binding, though widely followed and wholly appropriate, international practice and the payment will be part of the final damages payable,” MAS said in a statement today.
 
SMH had quoted the Sydney-based law firm LHD Lawyers claiming that at least two families have been denied full compensation, including one Casseandra Gibson from Perth who lost her mother Liliane Derden on the flight.
 
MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 persons on board.
 
Her family was reportedly given a AU$5,000 (RM14,5000) cheque as a no-strings-attached “compassionate payment” by MAS, and a letter offering US$50,000 (RM162,000) “advanced compensation” on the condition of signing a release form.
 
However, the lawyer Jerry Skinner from LHD Lawyers claimed that she was entitled to the equivalent of about US$183,000 (RM592,500) under the Montreal Convention, in which most countries including Malaysia and Australia are signatories.
 
“What we want to know is, thank you for the $US50,000 but where's the $US183,000 because you agreed to it, you signed it, you implemented it and now it's happened to you unfortunately, why aren't you paying it?” Skinner was quoted as saying.
 
MAS replied that the lawyers quoted in the article, including Skinner, had misunderstood the Montreal Convention and relevant provisions under Australian Law, and families involved should be concerned of this.
 
It added that the advance compensation is not conditional on the families waiving their rights, among which is to claim further compensation or take legal action against the airline.
 
“MAS is acutely conscious of its moral and legal obligations to those affected by the terrible tragedy which befell our flight MH17 and has never sought to avoid paying full compensation in accordance with the law,” it said.
 
In another statement, MAS slammed two New Zealand authors of a book that suggested that the pilot of MH370 had committed murder and suicide using the aircraft.

MH370 had disappeared with 239 persons on board during a flight to Beijing on March 8.
 

“There is no evidence to support any of the claims made in the book, which is a product of pure conjecture for the purposes of profit by the authors and publishers,” the wire service APNZ quoted the airline as saying yesterday.
 
It was referring to the book 'The Truth Behind the Loss of Flight 370', in which authors Ewan Wilson and Geoff Taylor claimed that pilot Zaharie Ahmad Syah had locked out his co-pilot from the cockpit and depressurised the aircraft’s cabin.
 
Wilson has a previous conviction for four charges of fraud that was allegedly committed when he was setting up the now-defunct airline Kiwi Air.
 
MH370 is believed to be somewhere in the South Indian Ocean, off the coast of Australia and an international search operation is still ongoing.