A lawyer representing Golden Travel Club Ltd, the operators of Fantasy Tours, has asked a judge for more time to be in a position to filed audited accounts which show how the company had gone bankrupt.

The request came in the first hearing of a case its owner, Karl Azzopardi, filed before the First Hall of the Civil Court in bankruptcy proceedings.

Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon obliged and gave the company two months to file these audited accounts up to 2012 and one month to file the management accounts for this year.

Replying to the judge’s questions who wanted to know what had led to such a financial situation, lawyer Kris Borg said the root of the problem was lack of sales. He explained that in order to keep prices low, the travel agency would block-book hotel rooms and airline seats which would have to be paid, whether these are sold or not.

He said it so happened that these rooms and airline seats were not being sold, with the company incurring heavy losses.
The judge gave the company the time it requested but ordered that other sitting be held in the meantime since there were other cases filed before the court which depended on the outcome of this case.

The case continues in October.