HONG KONG - Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said his country had conveyed its intention to join the Dutch-led team in the criminal investigation of Malaysian MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine.
The minister said there were no obstacles for that, Star Malaysia online edition reported.
In his words, Malaysia is taking part only in the technical probe into the crash now.
Malaysian investigators are still waiting for a possibility to take part in the investigation a Dutch-Belgian-Australian-Ukrainian team is carrying out, he said.
Previously Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Nov. 5, when he was on a visit to Kuala Lumpur, that it was logical that Malaysia should join the criminal investigation as a country, under whose flag the ill-fated plane was making the flight and whose citizens were killed in the crash.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail reported that for a moment just Dutch authorities openly supported Malaysia’s desire to join probes into the crash. Now it’s turn of Ukraine, Australia and Belgium to give the green light to Malaysia or not.
The Boeing 777-200 of the Malaysia Airlines en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast, some 60 km from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operations between the Donetsk militants and the Ukrainian army. All the passengers and crewmembers onboard the aircraft – 298 people – died. Most of the passengers – 193 people – were Dutch citizens.
