E-Clear debts now £27m more than first thought

The payment processing firm blamed for the collapse of Scottish airline Flyglobespan owes creditors nearly £30 million more than previously estimated, it has been revealed.

E-Clear went into administration in January with debts that included 35m owed to the Scottish budget airline, which collapsed in December at the cost of nearly 600 jobs.

Creditors now claim that E-Clear owes 127m in unpaid debts, up from the 100m previously identified.

Accountancy firm BDO, which was appointed as administrator of E-Clear, has now embarked on legal action to recovery money that had been loaned from E-Clear to its owner, Elias Elia.

But E-Clear has realised cash and assets of just 170,000, according to the latest creditor's report from BDO, which said the High Court action was being launched after an investigation into Elia's loan account.

E-Clear provided online credit and debit card transaction services for businesses including travel companies Flyglobespan, fellow Scotland-based airline Zoom and package holiday group XL, all of which have gone out of business. Globespan claims that the 35m it was owed in withheld payments by E-Clear was responsible for the cashflow crisis that crippled the airline, which had made a 1.3m profit in 2008 after a 13m loss the previous year.

It is claimed that E-Clear, which is also under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, also owed more than 50m to customers of Zoom and XL for booked travel they could no longer take when the firms went bust in late 2008.