Avianca says its shareholders have approved the airline to launch an investigation into the airline's minority shareholder Roberto Kriete for a potential conflict of interest, opening the door for a second lawsuit by the carrier against Kriete.
The move, adopted during a 31 March shareholders meeting, is the latest development in an ongoing legal dispute between Kriete and Avianca majority shareholder Synergy.
Synergy introduced the measure in the meeting, says the airline.
"The president and the secretary are instructed to evaluate, on behalf of the company, the legal basis for a lawsuit against Mr Roberto Kriete," says Avianca in a statement. "If justification is found the company is authorised to bring civil, criminal or any other legal action against Mr Roberto Kriete in any jurisdiction it deems appropriate."
Kriete's Kingsland Holdings filed a lawsuit against Synergy, Avianca and United Airlines in late February, seeking to stop partnership talks between the two airlines. Kingsland owns a 14.5% stake in Avianca, and says Synergy chose United as a partner for Avianca because the deal would personally benefit Synergy's owner German Efromovich.
Kingsland says today that Synergy's proposal of a "baseless" investigation into Kriete is "nothing more than retaliation" in response to Kingsland's legal action.
"It also is yet another example of Synergy and Efromovich wasting Avianca's resources to further their own interests and divert attention [from the United transaction]," says Kingsland.
Last week, Avianca countersued Kingsland, calling on a US court to stop its minority shareholder from interfering with the United negotiations. Avianca alleges that Kriete has a conflict of interest, due to his position as a board member at Mexico's Volaris, of which he is a co-founder.
Avianca also claims that Kriete had improperly handled Avianca's confidential information and published inaccurate information about the airline.
Avianca and United announced in February that they will enter into a strategic partnership, but have offered few details otherwise.
Story updated with Kingsland statement
Source: Cirium Dashboard
