AirAsia And The Airport Tax Issue

Interesting comments made on the airport issue between AirAsia and Malaysia Aiports.

On the Edge Financial Daily No special privilege for AirAsia to owe airport taxes

• KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has never accorded AirAsia Bhd or any other airline the special privilege of owing airport taxes, Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.
  
  He said although AirAsia was in arrears of RM65 million to MAHB on airport taxes, the airport operator was in the midst of negotiating with the low-cost carrier on the issue and he was confident that the two parties would be able to reach a settlement in the nearest possible time.
  
  "Drastic action cannot be applied by MAHB on AirAsia as it would affect the operations at the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) and cause a negative result on MAHB as operator and manager of the airport," Najib said in a written reply to Wee Choo Keong (Wangsa Maju-PKR) yesterday.
  
  Wee had asked the finance minister to state why MAHB accorded AirAsia the special privilege of owing RM65 million in airport taxes (as at Feb 28, 2009) when passengers had already paid the tax in advance, and when AirAsia had reportedly been making huge profits since its inception.
  
  Later, Wee told The Edge Financial Daily that AirAsia was merely a collecting agent for the airport tax and would technically be in criminal breach of trust if it failed to remit what was collected to MAHB.
  
  "I'm sure the figure in arrears is higher than RM65 million now. The issue of negotiation between MAHB and AirAsia should not have risen in the first place," he noted.
  
  Wee said it was pointless to collect airport tax from passengers if the taxes collected were kept for other purpose by AirAsia, adding that airport tax is a non-negotiable item and that MAHB had failed in its statutory duty on the tax collection.
  
  "Passengers who have cancelled their flights should also know they are entitled to be refunded with full airport tax although they may be penalised on their airfare," he added.

Rather interesting.

If what's said is true and AirAsia HAD ALREADY collected airport taxes, then why isn't AirAsia paying Malaysia Airports what it collected?

Surely the money collected belongs to Malaysia Airports, yes?