The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Turkish carrier Onur Air against a judgment which found it liable for a £3.64 million compensation claim by Goldtrail Travel liquidator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
PwC brought a double claim following a three-year investigation in 2014.
At that time former XL Leisure boss Phil Wyatt, his business associates Magnus Stephensen and Halldor Sigurdarson, and Wyatt investment vehicle Black Pearl Investments (BPI), were found liable for a £1.4 million compensation claim. They were not party to the judgment today.
Onur Air was found liable for £3.64 million.
The High Court found the defendants guilty of giving dishonest assistance to Goldtrail owner Abdulkadir Aydin.
Tour operator Goldtrail Travel went into administration in July 2010, costing the Air Travel Trust fund £25 million. The failure left creditors owed £33 million.
At the Court of Appeal today Onur Air’s grounds for appeal were dismissed.
Lord Justice Patten said having laid down the conditions for the appeal in a June 11 2015 order, “it cannot allow Onur to choose not to comply with those conditions with a view to avoiding them entirely if the remaining appeal succeeds”.
“Once the stifling argument fails, the court is faced with a party which has decided not to comply,” said Justice Patten.
“The interests of justice dictates that, in these circumstances, the court should protect its own process and give effect to its previous orders by dismissing the appeal and removing the stay on the judge’s order.”
The appeal of Black Pearl and Wyatt, Stephensen and Sigurdarson is due to be heard in March.
Fieldfisher acted for the liquidator.