Tycoons square up in legal thriller over Latin American airline

For 3 years the Salvadoran tycoon Roberto Kriete had watched millions of dollars haemorrhage from Avianca. But then Germán Efromovich, a hyperkinetic entrepreneur and Avianca’s biggest shareholder, went too far. Kriete claims Efromovich unexpectedly announced a transaction he had arranged with United Airlines Furious about the “secret” deal, Kriete, Avianca’s second-biggest shareholder, instructed his lawyers to sue. Unlike most corporate governance cases, the New York court lawsuit they filed 4 weeks later reads like a John Grisham novel. Efromovich, the suit said, has “plundered” Avianca thanks to a “corporate politburo rubber-stamping” board, with the “sweetheart United deal” an example of Efromovich’s self-dealings that seek to “fend off financial ruin” at his other businesses. <br/>