The Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli’s estimated RM86.4 million cost of leasing an Emirates Airlines executive jet is wrong, says Umno information chief Annuar Musa.

He said Rafizi was wrong to assume that the cost of leasing the Airbus ACJ319 aircraft is simply the hourly rate of the rental multiplied by the two-month period of the lease.

“He asked for the rate and multiplied it by 24 hours, then multiply by the number of days in the lease, and that becomes the estimate of the cost; whereas he doesn’t have proof, and we know this is not the case,” he said.

Annuar added, “The cost is clearly wrong. He calculated it based on an assumed rental rate and a two-month lease, and that becomes the figure.

“When a jet is leased, usually it is leased together with a crew and services at a certain price, but sometimes the jet is leased but is handled by government officers,” he told Malaysiakini when met after a breaking fast in Manong, Kuala Kangsar, yesterday.

For three consecutive days since last Wednesday, Rafizi had made a series of exposés alleging that the prime minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor flew in a private jet to Istanbul, Turkey, to attend a function last month.

He pointed out companies that offer chartered flights on ACJ319 aircraft, charge about US$15,000 per hour, meaning that it would cost taxpayers RM86.4 million to lease the aircraft for two months, or 1,440 hours.

Rosmah’s aide Rizal Mansor had defended Rosmah’s use of the jet, saying that she was on tight schedule, and protocol allows her to use the jet in her capacity as the prime minister’s wife.

The government had leased the jet for two months as a replacement for its own Airbus ACJ320 executive jet, which is undergoing maintenance, he said. Other Malaysian dignitaries such as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong can also use the jet.