Azul calls for investigation into TAP SGPS over insolvency

The Brazilian airline Azul, which is owned by airline mogul David Neeleman, has called for a top-down investigation into the now defunct shell company TAP SGPS to work out why the company is bankrupt, why and where the money went, and to determine who is “guilty” for its insolvency.

Azul has questions about the way that the holding for the Portuguese airline (now called Siavilo) became insolvent and wants access to accounts, documents and contracts regarding the company and the process, including directors’ decisions and documents related to the clearing out of assets.

In the insolvency of TAP SGPS, the shell company has no business activity and holds negative equity of more than €1Bn.

Azul is trying to claw back monies it says are owed to the tune of €181.95 million, referring to a securities issue from the holding company subscribed by the Brazilian airline in 2016.

Now it has asked the court for more time to be able to analyse all the information to present what is called an insolvency qualification application.

A Lisbon Commercial Court judge has granted the request accepting that Azul has good grounds based on three reasons:

Because the insolvency receivers have not yet released all of the documents that the creditor believes to be necessary to take a grounded decision;
Because a definitive list of recognised and non-recognised creditors has not been presented since it is assumed possible that the official receivers may still be in the process of obtaining some documents that comprise the bookkeeping of the insolvent but will eventually be made available;
And because an eventual consideration as to why the company is insolvent is likely to be complex and involve a fine-comb analysis of the documentation which it believes to be vast and has been requested by Azul.

Azul has not made any comments about the case but is legally pursuing information as to what went on at TAP SGPS in its final months and what put it in its current situation, and aims to sift through the holding’s accounts for the last three years, and some.

“In general,” Azul wants to access and analyse documentation relating to the “global trajectory of all the circumstances that determined TAP SGPS’s gradual financial deterioration, the continuous decline of the insolvent’s activity, and the constant loss of assets that has been verified over time.”