[size=85:23vv7xr6]Sofia echo 16 July 2010
Bulgarian travel agency 'defrauds' customers, owner allegedly flees country
Bulgarian tour operator Retur has defrauded its costumers, allegedly stealing in excess of 40 000 leva from reservations and holiday packages, while owing more than 510 000 leva to hotels throughout the country, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on July 16 2010.
The owner of the company has fled the country and is believed to be in Turkey, according to a former employee of Retur, although the the claim could not be independently verified.
The tour operator's financial woes started in 2008, when the company was steadily but irreversibly sinking in a bog of debt. The owner then applied for a loan but the bank had refused it on the grounds that it all seemed like an unnecessary risk, the report said.
Since then, the company had systematically taken money from its customers, but never made the promised reservations at the hotels, while hotel owners were aware of the situation and were "
enraged"
at the dishonest conduct, but did little to warn the customers.
"
How could I possibly go out there and say that these people are thieves, and that they haven't paid to some 10 hotels? It is the court's job to decide who is a fraud and who isn't – we don't have this right,"
Donka Sokolova, head of the Bulgarian Association of Tourist Agencies, told BNT .
"
With some hotels, the firm would tell the proprietors 'accept my clients now, and we will pay you with the next tranche' – but no one ever received any money from them,"
she said.
Kaloyan Miltenov from the Financial Police directorate said that the investigation is ongoing and that they had one employee who was making statements.
Meanwhile, the company's former accountant, identified as Margarita, was asked by the BNT why no one had warned the clients that the firm was suffering financially and that they were likely to lose their money.
"
I don't know. We are not authorised to make financial analysis of the company. Its true many people were defrauded, so was I...."
When asked by the BNT where was the owner of the firm, she said he had most likely fled to Turkey.
Bulgarian authorities would like to inform any potential holidaymakers than in the future they would be well advised to research the tour operator and make sure the company was properly registered and that it had a license. Additionally, customers should ask for a contract with the firm and not just a receipt that they have paid for the holiday package or the reservations. Above all, make sure that the company itself is insured, the report said.
Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:53 pm
