Bestjet director claims collapse caused by $3.2m payment that ‘did not materialise’

The director of the collapsed flight-booking service Bestjet has told a meeting of the company’s creditors that he was forced to go into voluntary administration after he did not receive a promised $3.2m payment from the company’s former owners. Last week Guardian Australia reported the Queensland-based budget airfare company Bestjet had gone into voluntary administration just days before Christmas. Its collapse left travellers who booked flights through the company thousands of dollars out of pocket and desperate for answers. According to the minutes of a creditors’ meeting held last week, Bestjet owes about $7.28m to about 2,300 unsecured creditors. The company’s administrators, Pilot Partners, told the meeting they were receiving about 400 creditor inquiries each day. Bestjet’s new owner told the meeting he had been “legally obliged” to place the company into administration after a promised $3.2m payment from its Singaporean arm never materialised. Story has full background.<br/>