KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — AirAsia asserted today that it does not have any outstanding debt to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), contrary to the persistent allegations hurled by Tourism Malaysia chairman Wee Choo Keong.

CEO Aireen Omar said Asia’s largest budget airline has consistently paid its Passenger Service Charge (PSC) to MAHB.

“We deem these latest statements by Mr Wee Choo Keong as intended to further injure the reputation of AirAsia following his earlier statements which are now already a subject to a defamation litigation,” she said in a statement.

“Additionally, AirAsia would like to highlight that Mr Wee Choo Keong’s position as the Chairman of Tourism Malaysia comes with a higher degree of responsibility to the tourism industry.

“His focus should be on publicising Malaysia and attracting tourist arrivals, instead of attacking a public listed airline which has contributed to the success of Malaysian tourism,” she added.

Wee, who is facing a defamation suit raised by AirAsia, raised the allegation again today in response to claims he had scolded the airline’s staff and broken its buntings during the 4th China International Tourism Expo 2016 in Beijing last week.

The former MP had earlier told Malay Mail in his response on the incident that “AirAsia should ensure the airline settles its huge outstanding debts to Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad so they have more funds to improve facilities and services for the public.”

Wee has in the past openly attacked AirAsia over its alleged airport debt of more than RM50 million.

In July last year, AirAsia Berhad filed a defamation suit against Wee over his blog post on the issue, also accusing him of regularly publishing many false and disparaging statement in its blog www.weechookeong.com.