The industry has been left reeling by the revelations of massive fraud at Sunvil, as exclusively revealed by TravelMole yesterday (see earlier story).
But many people have expressed their support for managing director Noel Josephides, and their relief that the operator is now in a strong position after recovering the bulk of the cash.
The story was the talk of the industry, with over 5,000 people logging on to this site within two hours to read the details.
Many were shocked that the fraud, involving millions of pounds over a long period, could go on undetected for so long.
John Hewson, of Virtually There, asked: “What of the auditors? Sloppy book keeping that can result in such massive fraud could endanger the viability of any consumer protection schemes.”
Others said the story acted as a wake-up call to businesses to closely monitor their accounts.
Nick Cooper, director of Villa Plus, said: “Anyone who thinks “there but for the grace of God’ needs a serious review of their business model”.
But there was also genuine support for Josephides, a well-respected figure in the industry. Ironically, Sunvil is now in a stronger position than before after discovering cash that it did not previously know belonged to the company.
William Burton, the chief executive of The Travel Acquisition Company, said he was “pleased Noel was on top of it”.
He added: “I know that Noel has been on this one for some months now and recovered a lot of the money stolen, but it is really sad that a trusted employee can systematically defraud his colleagues in such a way, putting everyone’s livelihood potentially at risk for short gain.”
by Jeremy Skidmore (http://www.jeremyskidmore.com/)
