A CYPRIOT-owned credit card company that went into administration on Tuesday has apparently “lost” GBP100 million which it owed to creditors, it emerged yesterday.
The missing millions that E-Clear owed to its creditors became apparent after administrators, BDO, were called in to examine the company’s finances last week.
Asked about the money, Charlotte Freeman, Senior PR Manager for BDO said yesterday: “The money has gone. We were appointed last Tuesday and the investigation is ongoing.”
Freeman added that because of the nature of the company’s business, the investigations were complex and it would take time to speak to all the involved people, including the authorities and creditors.
The matter has also been brought to the attention of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) although no investigation is yet underway. An SFO spokesperson told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that “There is no investigation into E-Clear, however, any complaint or allegations are, as a matter of standard practice, given appropriate attention. This may require us to gather additional intelligence.”
Regarding investigations into individuals, the spokesperson said “We don’t identify suspects unless they are formally charged.”
The court order to send in the administrators was issued after E-Clear failed to pay 35 million it owed to the tour operator Globespan. As a consequence Globespan was left bankrupt, 650 were left unemployed and 4,500 passengers were left stranded around Europe, including 300 in Cyprus.
Representatives of Globespan’s administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, met with the SFO on Thursday, while BDO staff spoke with the SFO on Friday, and it is understood that the SFO, representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority and BDO met yesterday to discuss the matter.
Elias Elia, the former owner and only listed Director of the ill-fated firm, met with the administrators on the day of the appointment, but has not issued any public statements and has not responded to the Cyprus Mail’s email requests for a comment.
In his last public statement, regarding the Globespan collapse, Elia told The Scotsman “We have suffered because we have lost an important client in Flyglobespan and people are painting us as a reason for the airline’s collapse. That creates bad publicity, when our view is we are just doing our job. We feel that is unfair, but it still damages our reputation.”
Hundreds of Scottish holidaymakers’ Christmases were ruined when FlyGlobespan, Scotland’s then largest airline, went into bankruptcy because of E-clear’s outstanding debt of £35 million.
