Iraq’s transportation minister Hadi al-Amiri told a news conference Sunday that he’d pay for the losses out of his own pocket and would hand his son over to authorities if the investigation proved he was behind the Middle East Airlin

Iraq's transportation minister Hadi al-Amiri told a news conference Sunday that he'd pay for the losses out of his own pocket and would hand his son over to authorities if the investigation proved he was behind the Middle East Airline flight being stopped from landing on Thursday.

The airline says the flight left six minutes late because it waited for al-Amiri's son.

Twenty minutes after the plane's departure, the head of MEA in Baghdad contacted the pilot, saying that Iraqi authorities would not allow the plane to land at Baghdad International Airport without al-Amiri's son on board. The plane, carrying 71 passengers, returned to Beirut.

"I ask you to forgive me for what happened," Amiri said during a press conference at Baghdad airport in which he refused to take questions.

"The time when the sons of officials made mistakes and escaped punishment is over, and if the investigation proves my son made mistakes, I will present him to the courts myself," he added, referring to an Iraqi probe ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"As a minister, I will bear the costs of transport and the losses at my own expense, because the issue relates to my son."