Sister says don't make missing Flight 370 pilot the fall guy

Allegations that he was a jihadist, or suicidal over a marital breakup, or that he doomed the aircraft in a political protest do not square with his family's memories of a kind, generous and happy man, his eldest sister said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

The "rogue pilot" theory has been a focus of investigations after the Malaysian government said the plane was deliberately steered off course, but authorities have found no evidence linking Zaharie or his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, to any wrongdoing.

Zaharie was 53 when the Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777 jet he was piloting disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

A detailed report by an independent investigation team released a year after the plane vanished affirmed the family's assertion that Zaharie had no known history of apathy, anxiety or irritability.

Zaharie has several bank accounts, two national trust funds, two houses and three vehicles but no record of him having a life insurance policy, it said.

An ongoing search for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean, where it was believed to have crashed, has turned up nothing so far.

Sitting on a patchwork rug in the middle of the living hall at her home in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur, Sakinab paused often and spoke haltingly as she tried to hold back tears.

Zaharie was a member of the opposition party headed by jailed political leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Sakinab said he was an ordinary member and accusations that he downed the plane to protest Anwar's jailing for sodomy just a day before the flight were "ridiculous."

Flight 370 is believed to be in an area of the Indian Ocean where the sea floor is a few miles underwater, making the search effort especially challenging.