EZjet today said that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was not hunting its former CEO Sonny Ramdeo.
It was responding to a report in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News which said that the FBI was hunting Ramdeo and possibly in connection with missing passenger monies.
“First and foremost, the US FBI is not hunting EZjet’s CEO Sonny Ramdeo. Following a civil suit filed against Mr Ramdeo, the FBI asked Mr Ramdeo to contact them, as soon as possible, regarding matters relating to Promise Healthcare’s diversion of over $550 million dollars as well as the circumstances surrounding its affiliated company PayTax Serv Inc which was sold in August of 2011”, EZjet stated.
It added that on receiving the FBI query, Ramdeo responded to the FBI that he would discuss their concerns, once EZjet matters had been attended to. EZjet added that Ramedeo is voluntarily staying in regular contact with the FBI.
The carrier, which was suspended by the Guyana and US aviation authorities last week, throwing passengers in turmoil said that no EZjet passenger monies are missing.
It stated “As mandated by US DOT (Department of Transportation), EZjet directed US travel agencies to deposit passenger ticket payments directly into EZjet’s approved escrow at Valley National Bank, a US federal insurance institution. EZjet did not direct travel agencies to deposit funds into any other account. Many US travel agents, due to poor experiences with previous charterers, particularly Travelspan, refused to deposit passenger ticket payments into EZjet’s escrow.
Rather than cancel the passenger tickets, EZjet instead deposited its own funds into escrow to protect the passengers’ flights. All EZjet passenger payments are held in escrow or trust until the EZjet passenger reaches their destination, at which time, the passenger’s funds are released by the escrow or trust for disbursement to EZjet, air carrier, government, airports, and airport vendors. Since EZjet’s sudden suspension, due to Swift Air cancelling their flights, EZjet has been making every effort to refund passenger tickets or return passengers to their origination.”
In its statement today, EZjet also said that the US DOT suspended EZjet’s permit for not having an air carrier and the suspension had nothing to do with financial matters between EZjet and Swift Air, although Swift Air served a notice of cancellation to limit their liability for returning all US passengers.
The statement also said that Ramdeo has taken direct charge of EZjet activities, with the support of his board and senior officers. It is unclear what is meant by this statement as EZjet had earlier said that Ramdeo had stepped down to concentrate on clearing his name following a civil suit against him by his former employers alleging embezzlement.
EZjet added that it needs the support of both Guyana government and Guyana passengers to continue offering reasonable services at reasonable fares.
