The consumer watchdog today defended its decision to issue a warning on Fantasy Tours after having received more than 150 complaints from its consumers. 

Lawyer Irene Bonello, who provides legal services to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, said Fantasy Tours had been given several chances to remedy the situation as complaints had been flowing in since 2008 but the company opted to choose mediation for every case rather than a settlement. 

Dr Bonello was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Fantasy Tours director Karl Azzopardi, who stands accused with misappropriating his clients’ funds. The company had accepted payments from clients up to the day it informed them via SMS that it was closing shop.

In a previous court sitting, a Fantasy Tours former employees blamed the MCCAA's warning issued in October 2012 for the final nail in the operator's coffin. 

Fantasy Tours and its operators, Golden Travel Club Limited, were declared bankrupt in February last year after it was deemed as being beyond recovery. 

Dr Bonello stressed that the authority had every right to issue the warning on the strength of amendments to the Consumer Affairs Act. She said that Fantasy Tours was not the first company on which the authority had issued a warning. Since then, the authority has issued similar warnings against other traders even with just one complaint. 

Dr Bonello explained that the authority had made several attempts to contact the company prior to issuing the warning but an official letter was refused. After the warning was issued, a meeting was held with Fantasy Tours to ensure that cases did not remain pending and that was when the company gradually started to settle claims. Pending payments, she said, were finally settled by mid-July 2013, shortly before the company was wound up. 

She said the authority received a fresh wave of complaints after the company informed clients via SMS that it could not deliver on what it had promised. 

Under cross examination, Dr Bonello said the company had made a request for the authority to withdraw the warning and instead issue a counter statement. As the authority was considering this request, the company filed for bankruptcy before anything was done. 

Brittania Tours director Noel Farrugia and KDM Travel official Joseph Cauchi also took the witness stand today to explain that they had been considering taking over the travel company but discussions did not go beyond the early stages. KDM had also taken a step backward after seeing the consumer watchdog warning. 

Magistrate Anthony Vella heard how the prosecution still had a list of some 200 clients who are set to testify in the case against Mr Azzopardi. 

The case was put off to May. 

Lawyer Kris Borg appeared for Mr Azzopardi while lawyer Franco Debono appeared as parte civile. 

 

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