Did Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor go to the United States last December to oversee upgrading works for the government's new executive jet, the RM465 million Airbus ACJ320?

This is the question Pandan MP and PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli raised at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

Rafizi ( right ) pointed out the government’s current executive jet, with the registration number 9M-NAA, had stopped over in Indianapolis for six days after the PM had returned to Malaysia earlier to tend to the national floods disaster.

The flood crisis forced the prime minister to cut short his holiday in Hawaii late last year.

Najib had flown to Hawaii for a family vacation using the executive jet but without Najib, the jet then went to Indianapolis and stopped over at several locations all over the world before returning to Malaysia, Rafizi said.

Rafizi said there was a "big probability" the person who boarded 9M-NAA in the absence of Najib had gone to Indianapolis to oversee the upgrading works for the new jet at the premises of Comlux Aviation, the previous owner of the Airbus ACJ320.

"There should not be any excuse that the current jet, 9M-NAA, had stopped over in Indianapolis for its own upgrading works, for the upgrading work for a jet takes three to four months," Rafizi maintained.

"The speculation is that Rosmah was on board the 9M-NAA and that she went to Indianapolis and stayed there for six days to oversee these upgrading and refurbishment works for the new jet," Rafizi said.

He also explained that the hire purchase agreement for the new Airbus ACJ320 jet was signed on Dec 1, which meant the jet was already commissioned by the time Najib and his family went to Hawaii, where he was also pictured golfing with US President Barack Obama.

The Comlux America website says that the firm works on both Airbus and Boeing VIP aircraft to create “Comfort and Luxury” on board.

Rafizi demanded that Najib explain if Rosmah was on the jet and if she went to Indianapolis to oversee the upgrading.

 
He also said that the hire purchase agreement for the jet showed that there was an agreement to upgrade the cabin of the jet ordered.