Refunds ready for stranded EZjet passengers from Monday

Mar 22, 2013 News

More than three months after the sudden suspension of low-cost carrier, EZjet, passengers stranded in Guyana are set to start collecting their refunds from Monday.

Awaiting trial: Sonny Ramdeo

However, according to the Ministry of Public Works, because of the large number of claims, passengers will only be receiving 64% of their ticket costs.
The monies will be taken from a US$200,000 cash bond that government has been holding at Scotiabank.
Only those who have satisfied the established criteria, following completion of the verification process, will be receiving the refunds the Ministry said.
Payment will commence on Monday between 09:00hrs to 11:00hrs and 13:00hrs to 15:00hrs at the Ministry’s Central Accounting Unit, Fort Street, Kingston.
Hundreds of passengers were left stranded after US authorities suspended EZjet’s licence in November following a complaint from the company that leased planes to EZjet that it was owed hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
Government took over the refunding process after angry passengers descended on numerous occasions on EZjet’s Brickdam offices.
The administration had warned that the US$200,000 bond would not have been enough to refund passengers fully.
EZjet executive, Sonny Ramdeo, himself is now facing an April trial for allegedly embezzling US$20M from a US hospital chain with which he had been working, providing payroll services. He was on the run for months from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before agents cornered him in a basement in Queens, New York. He appeared in a New York court where his detention was extended and he was later transferred to Florida to face the wire fraud charges. Ramdeo, 35, and formerly of Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, started EZjet in late 2011, as the cheaper alternative to fly on the New York to Guyana route.
However, from the onset there had been questions over the source of Ramdeo’s finances for the airline which at first glance seemed unable to maintain itself based on the low fares.