An insurance firm which supplied Fantasy Tours with travel insurance policies has filed civil proceedings to collect money it is owed.

Cordina Insurance Agency Limited filed a case in the First Hall of the Civil Court calling on Golden Travel Club Limited, operators of Fantasy Tours, to pay them €14,300 owed for travel insurance policies it had issued for holidaymakers.

This case is one of a series filed in court by creditors of Fantasy Tours which has filed for bankruptcy after cancelling over €345,000 worth of paid-up tours.

The travel agency is also facing class action by its clients. So far, more than 250 clients have filed official letters in court requesting a refund of the amounts they had paid for their holidays which never took place.

According to case documents, which Times of Malta has seen, the insurance firm is claiming that Fantasy Tours had used its online facility to issue travel insurance policies for its clients purchasing tours but never paid up.

It said the outstanding amount stood at €14,306.98, which does not include an unspecified number of travel insurance policies which were still unutilised. It reserved its position on these policies.

According to the insurance firm, Golden Travel Club Limited issued four cheques to cover the outstanding amount but these could not be cashed. Sources said a police report on these cheques had been filed and an investigation is under way.

On Monday, travel agency shareholder and owner Karl Azzopardi appeared before Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon in a bankruptcy case he filed.

His lawyer, Kris Borg, said unsold block-booked hotel rooms and airline seats were the cause of the financial problems faced by the company.

He explained that to keep prices low, the travel agency would block-book hotel rooms and airline seats that needed to be paid for even if the agency could not sell them.

These rooms and seats were not sold, with the company incurring heavy losses as a result.

Mr Azzopardi is calling on the civil court to wind down the company due to its inability to repay its debts.

Bank of Valletta has also filed judicial letters against the travel agent claiming back €115,000 for an out-standing loan.