Previous owner alleged to have “kept hidden the true financial nature of the business”.
The owners of the collapsed Bestjet online travel agency have just confirmed that they are looking at taking legal action against the vendors of the business they acquired just over a month ago.
Robert McVicker Jr, who as late as Thursday last week was visiting airlines to speak about the claimed huge growth prospects for the company, told Travel Daily that his family had invested significant time, money and reputation in the acquisition of Bestjet, including incentivising the former owner to ensure the success of the business.
According to ASIC records the owner of Bestjet Travel Pty Limited prior to its acquisition by McVicker International Pty Ltd on 05 November 2018 was Rachel James of North Lakes, Queensland with 150,120 ordinary shares, alongside Robin Smith with 4,736 ordinary shares and Carly Ashwood with one redeemable preference share.
McVicker said during the five weeks of his involvement with the business he had been kept focused on meeting numerous IATA change of ownership requirements, negotiating supplier agreements and meeting with key contacts.
“The former owner and their representatives who managed the day to day activities of the business reneged on promises to allow us full access to the business systems and records and instead kept hidden the true financial nature of the business,” he alleged.
“When we became aware the business would not be able to make a payment because a significant sum allegedly due to the company was not received, we immediately met with and appointed an administrator. We will be investigating taking legal action against the former owners,” McVicker said.
McVicker also confirmed that servers, paperwork and computer hardware had been found missing when the business was handed over to the administrators on Tuesday afternoon this week.
“We discovered those records to be missing and understand the administrator is now looking into this,” he added.
An estimated 10,000 passengers have been affected by the collapse of the non-ATAS accredited OTA, while major creditors include IATA which is believed to be owed more than $10 million.
More details in Travel Daily as they come to hand.