KUALA LUMPUR – The founder of a suspended Malaysian budget airline has been arrested on suspicion of financial crimes, the police said on Wednesday.

Last week, MYAirline abruptly halted operations citing financial pressures, less than a year after it began flying.

The airline, which services mostly domestic routes with nine aircraft, said operations would stop “until further notice”.

Mr Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf, director of the police commercial crime investigation department, said MYAirline founder and major shareholder Allan Goh Hwan Hua, his 55-year-old wife and 26-year-old son were arrested on Tuesday.

“Police have obtained a four-day remand from Wednesday for them to assist investigations under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001,” Mr Ramli said.

MYAirline, which began flying last December, said its suspension would allow for a “shareholder restructuring and recapitalisation”, but gave no timeline for operations to resume.

“We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital raising options to prevent this suspension,” the carrier’s board of directors said in a statement last week.

“Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision.” AFP