Domestic travelers continue to face problems at domestic airports due to the sudden suspension of operations by Viva Air. The crisis generated will reach the courts due to a complaint for fraud that is being formulated in the Ministry of Transport against the airline.
Minister Guillermo Reyes told CM& that they are compiling all the evidence and information they have about the possible commission of the crime so that, from that portfolio of the national government, they can formally present the complaint to the competent authorities.
“We are verifying the possibility that Viva (Air) has incurred in a possible criminal type of fraud close to 200 million. We are verifying the issues, and this week we would announce very tough decisions to the country on this issue,” the official said.
The complaint, according to Reyes, would be made to guarantee the rights of the workers who were left adrift after the administrative decisions of the airline that since February 28 suspended its operations. In addition, for alleged violations of the legal system.
“Here not only the person is respected, the law and the constitution and the rules that govern air transport are respected,” Reyes told the Channel One newscast. He noted that among the different complaints and denunciations they have received, there is of the travel agencies that reported debts totaling 30 billion pesos for tickets sold by Viva Air, but have not received any response to remedy that debt.
This week, according to the head of the Transport portfolio, the decision of the Civil Aeronautics regarding the integration between Avianca and Viva Air, which has been delayed and to which the airline attributes its debacle, will also be known. Likewise, the deadline for formulating the normalization plans required by the Superintendency of Transportation after taking the measure of control over the company has expired. If there is no response, agents will be appointed to lead the process.
The Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating the possible fraud
The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation opened an investigation against the Colombian airline Viva Air to determine if they committed massive fraud or other crimes by leaving the option to buy tickets enabled, until Monday (February 27), when they announced the sudden cessation of your operations.
This was announced by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, in an interview for RCN Radio, in which he urged the administrative authorities to act for the benefit of those who have had to endure delays in their flight itineraries and monetary losses.
“We are determining if we are facing crimes of mass fraud, but there are some issues that are administrative and have to be resolved. So we are determining if we are facing this type of crime or not,” said Barbosa, in an interview for the aforementioned media.
The process was designated with a special character and is led by the Deputy Attorney General, Marta Mancera, to establish whether or not a criminal prosecution against the company, despite having a representation of 15% in the Colombian air market, proceeds. For months, it has been waiting for the go-ahead from the Government to achieve a merger with Avianca, as the only alternative to its financial problems, a product of the pandemic.
The head of the investigative entity insisted that, both in this and in similar cases, the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office should be a last resort, used only behind the solutions proposed by the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aeronautics, for which proposed a ‘social dialogue’. with Infobae