Court orders release of MH370 probe documents to families

A Malaysian court has ordered the releases of all files relating to the ­disappearance of Flight MH370.

Family members of MH370 victims at multi-faith prayers near Kuala Lumpur on July 25, 2014.

A Malaysian court has ordered the government and Malaysia Airlines hand over all relevant documents relating to the ­disappearance of Flight MH370, in a critical ruling that families of missing passengers hope will ­provide long-awaited answers to a 2 ½-year-old mystery.

A Kuala Lumpur high court judge yesterday granted general discovery to relatives of 32 ­missing passengers who were on board the flight from Kuala ­Lumpur to Beijing which went missing in the early hours of March 8, 2014.

Some 76 plaintiffs, comprising 66 Chinese nationals, eight Indians and two US citizens, allege the airline failed to give a proper ­account of events that occurred during the flight, which relatives were later informed by text message had gone down in the southern Indian Ocean.

In a March 3 statement of claim the families also allege negligence, breach of contract, breach of statutory duty and breach of the Montreal Convention by Malaysia Airlines Systems.

Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation director general, the Royal Malaysian Air Force and the government of Malaysia are also named as defendants.

Since the plane’s disappearance families of the missing passengers and crew have consistently accused the Malaysian government of hiding information and failing to keep them informed of major developments and decisions.

Tommy Thomas, lead counsel representing the plaintiffs and one of Malaysia’s most senior lawyers, told The Australian the court’s decision to grant general discovery was more a “matter of course” than a major legal victory.

“You can’t do a trial without documents. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

Mr Thomas said of particular relevance to his clients were “all conversations relating to the plane turning back”.

“Those conversations would be critical because that was the time to save the plane,” he said.

“Nobody was asking them to shoot down the plane. Nobody shoots down their own country’s plane but how about following it to find out where it goes?”

The aircraft made its last contact with air traffic control at 1.19am (Malaysian time) before disappearing from radar screens.

According to information pieced together by investigators, over the course of the next six hours it is believed to have made several turns, deviating westward from its planned flight path to cross the Malay Peninsula, passing just south of Penang before flying across the Strait of ­Malacca, and heading south over the Indian Ocean.

Both the government and MAS have until October 20 to comply with the discovery order or appeal the plaintiffs ­application for access to 37 documents, including notes, memos, cargo manifest and all relevant investigative reports into the disappearance of MH370.

Lawyers for the Malaysian government have previously ­objected to the discovery application as a “fishing” expedition.

MAS lawyer Saranjit Singh said he understood the plaintiffs were entitled to general discovery against MAS to assist their case against the government of ­Malaysia, online Malaysian news site Malaysiakini reported.

But, he added, his client needed to read and understand the grounds of judgment to determine whether it should appeal the order.