South Africa's "Hawks" specialised police unit is investigating criminal charges against Carla da Silva, head of sales and marketing at South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), and several staff members reporting to her, following allegations of industrial espionage and theft of sensitive data from her former employer Airlink (South Africa), reports The Citizen newspaper.
An Airlink spokesman confirmed a docket has been opened after the airline last week laid a criminal complaint against Da Silva under the Cybercrimes Act for "theft of incorporeal property" with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).
In March, Airlink filed an urgent interdict against Da Silva, SAA, and ten former Airlink employees who had joined the national carrier. This led to a High Court order on April 16 requiring SAA to "delete, destroy, and not use" confidential commercial information that the former executive had acquired before her departure to SAA.
Airlink accuses Da Silva of copying a key database before leaving the airline late last year. Additional evidence is alleged to have come to light. "We have since been made aware of and have evidence of more suspected breaches and will follow our rights accordingly," Airlink CEO and Managing Director Rodger Foster told The Citizen.
Foster stated that Airlink had reported the alleged data breach to industry bodies and regulators, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA), affected travel agents, and the Information Regulator of South Africa.
ch-aviation has asked SAA to comment.
