The 3,600 cases involving former Malaysia Airlines Systems (MAS) Berhad cannot be referred to the Industrial Court because the airline is "no longer in existence", said Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Jaem today.

"If the company has gone bankrupt or has wound up, we can't go after the company.

"And by law, we can't go after the individuals (responsible for the retrenchment) either," said Riot when asked to elaborate on his previous remarks on the matter, at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Riot had previously declined to offer reasons for why his ministry will not be referring the cases to the Industrial Court.

This was after the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) asked why there is yet to be any action on the cases referred to the ministry by retrenched staff...