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Elia’s personal assets to be frozen as £100m goes missing

Elia’s personal assets to be frozen as £100m goes missing

Greek travel entrepreneur Elias Elia is set to have his personal assets frozen as the administrators of his failed credit card company E-Clear try to account for a hole in its finances worth up to £100m.

BDO, the accountants appointed to run the administration of E-Clear will meet with creditors and stakeholders in E-Clear, including representatives of Globespan, Sunwing, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The meeting is likely to ask creditors if they will fund a further investigation into the collapse of E-Clear in order to find out where the cash has gone, reports The Independent.

A high court hearing last week revealed that E-Clear had somehow spent as much as £100m. This left less than £100,000, which is insufficient to pay for the cost of an investigation into the collapse.

Globespan says it is owed as much as £35m by E-Clear, while Sunwing, a Canadian tour operator, is thought to be owed a similar amount.

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Creditors are believed to be concerned that Elia could flee to his native Cyprus in the coming weeks, adding to the confusion about the company’s assets. The administrator does not have the power to seize his passport.

Sources close to E-Clear’s administration process told The Independent that they are “staggered by the complexity of the company’s dealings”. Computers and staff records are also thought to be missing.

The SFO is thought to be poised to mount an investigation into the goings-on at E-Clear and the collapse of Globespan.