Itapemirim creditors approve Sidnei Piva’s removal

In a meeting held this Wednesday (18), the creditors of the Itapemirim Group voted, almost unanimously, to remove Sidnei Piva from the command of the company.

The businessman, accused of mismanagement, resumed the front of the group in March, when the 1st Court of Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganizations of the TJ-SP (Court of Justice of São Paulo) revoked a previous decision of the Justice of São Paulo.

The result of the meeting of creditors goes to the judge to determine the removal.

Grupo Itapemirim has been in judicial recovery since 2016 and has tax debts estimated at around R$2 billion​.

Piva is accused of mismanagement, mainly in the services of ITA (Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos), the airline belonging to the group that stopped flying at the end of 2021 after six months of operation. An estimate by Procon-SP informs that the suspension caused damage to about 130 thousand passengers.

In early January, Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) prohibited ITA from selling airline tickets again until the company demonstrates that it has fulfilled all corrective actions for those affected by the suspension of its activities, such as re-accommodation and full reimbursement of the air ticket.

In a statement distributed to employees on April 13, ITA President Adalberto Bogsan announced the sale of the company to Baufaker Consulting. EXM Partners, which manages the Itapemirim Group’s judicial recovery process, challenged the transaction in court.

Weeks later, Brazilian real estate entrepreneur Galeb Baufaker Júnior, from the Gbaufaker Group, stated that he had given up on buying the airline.

SIDNEI PIVA’S HISTORY IS FILLED WITH CONTROVERSIES

Sidnei Piva has a trajectory marked by accusations of unfulfilled contracts and lawsuits.

One of the group’s most critical problems is the lack of payment of employees.

On December 29, the MP-SP (Public Ministry of São Paulo) asked that the businessman’s assets be blocked. The request to the judge of the 1st Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court of the capital of São Paulo also included the inclusion of ITA in the judicial reorganization process, the conversion of the judicial reorganization into bankruptcy and the suspension of all auctions for the sale of Itapemirim assets.

According to Piva’s defense, there was no asset blocking and all precautionary measures were revoked.

At the end of February, Itapemirim announced the “temporary” suspension of Ita Bank’s activities as of March 7, the deadline for the 2,700 customers to transfer money from their accounts. According to the company, the suspension is due to a platform change.

The launch of Ita Bank had been announced by Piva in an interview with Sheet, in October. At the time, the businessman stated that the digital bank would finance ITA airline tickets in 36 installments.

On December 30th of last year, Viação Itapemirim asked ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) to stop serving 73 cities, with 16 lines, which would happen from January 27th. The 73 markets represented 15% of the total of 482 that the company is authorized to operate.

On the date scheduled for the start of the suspension, however, Viação Itapemirim requested the cancellation of the measure, informing ANTT that it had carried out “an operational readjustment”, which allowed it to continue operating the bus lines.