SMARTLYNX AIRLINES: Criminal Investigation Has Been Launched
A criminal investigation has been opened into suspected fraud involving the management of SIA Smartlynx Airlines and the alleged fictitious sale of the airline to a new owner. BLACKLIST.AERO learned this information from a source familiar with the investigation. The case was initiated after a complaint was filed with the police by one of the creditors. It is also possible that additional complaints have been submitted by other defrauded counterparties of Smartlynx.
The investigation is being conducted by the Economic Crimes Investigation Unit of the Latvian National Police. It is not excluded that Latvian investigators may later have to cooperate with law-enforcement authorities in Ireland and Lithuania. Their task will be to clarify how the airline accumulated debts of at least EUR 238 million, of which EUR 174.374 million is owed to companies belonging to the Avia Solutions Group ecosystem, while EUR 64 million represents debts to external companies.
BLACKLIST.AERO has also learned that Smartlynx CEO Edvinas Demenius departed for an “extended vacation” in Bali immediately after the Economic Crimes Investigation Unit expressed interest in him. BLACKLIST.AERO is attempting to obtain a comment from Demenius; however, he has blocked all attempts to contact him. We will be happy to publish his comment at any time.
Earlier, the administration of the Global Aviation Register of Defaulter Companies BLACKLIST.AERO questioned the transparency of the transaction in which the previous owner, Avia Solutions Group, sold Smartlynx Airlines to a newly formed entity — Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management, incorporated in the Netherlands just one month before the sale.
BLACKLIST.AERO discovered that the head of Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management — Cypriot lawyer Elias Heracleous — is a nominal owner or director of roughly 70 other companies, which further intensified suspicions that the transaction may have been fictitious.
The structure of Smartlynx’s debt also raises significant questions. In particular, the fact that three-quarters of the debt is owed to companies within the Avia Solutions Group. Law-enforcement authorities will need to determine whether ASG-affiliated companies (primarily ASG FINANCE DAC, which holds EUR 117,156,477.64 of the debt) artificially inflated the cost of their services to increase Smartlynx’s liabilities and thus present “paper profits” in the financial statements shown to holders of previously issued bonds.
BLACKLIST.AERO will continue to monitor developments surrounding the bankruptcy of Smartlynx Airlines and the events that follow.
According to information obtained by the editorial team of the BLACKLIST.AERO registry, Harmony Jets and Harmony Aircraft Services have completely ceased operations.
BLACKLIST.AERO would like to inform industry participants about outstanding operational debts associated with aircraft T7-PSJ (Gulfstream IV-SP, MSN 1251).
A new bankruptcy has emerged involving an airline previously belonging to Avia Solutions Group. Following the collapse of SmartLynx Airlines Latvia, bankruptcy proceedings have now been initiated for SmartLynx Airlines Estonia OÜ. A copy of the decision by the Tallinn district court Harju Maakohus to open bankruptcy proceedings was obtained by the administration of BLACKLIST.AERO from a source within the legal community.
Companies listed as creditors of SIA SmartLynx Airlines and belonging to the Avia Solutions Group holding structure have declined to pursue court claims against what was once their sister company. This became known after the deadline for submitting creditor claims to the insolvency administrator expired.
