Priority Escapes travel agent out on bail after arrest for fraud

10 Jan 2024

Francois Swart is accused of selling non-existent holidays to the tropical paradise of Maldives. He claims he’s not guilty of fraud and had merely tried to service historic debt to customers, staff and suppliers when his business went under.

Francois Swart, the sole director of the Priority Escapes travel agency who is accused of selling non-existent holidays to the Maldives, has made his first appearance in court, after arranging to hand himself over to the authorities.

His next court appearance is on 23 February.

Swart appeared in the Modimolle Magistrates’ Court in Limpopo on 28 December, where he was granted bail. His bail conditions have not yet been publicly released.

Swart is the managing director of the travel agency Priority Escapes, which is alleged to have defrauded dozens of holidaymakers.

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit is representing two clients who filed a criminal complaint against Swart with the Modimolle police in August 2023.

In a letter to the Modimolle station commander in September, advocate Gerrie Nel, who heads up the unit, said Swart had received full payment from his clients for holiday packages.

“The misrepresentation was furthered when the suspect issued documents purporting that the holiday was arranged and paid in full. It has since been confirmed that the documents the complainants received are false,” Nel said.

The complainants, Pamela-Anne Dolan and Bugs van Heerden, lost R130,000 in the saga. In a statement on Tuesday, they said they had accepted they wouldn’t recover the money.

“We aren’t doing this for ourselves, but for all the people who have lost money. We believe it is a cut-and-dry case. We were issued with travel vouchers to show that our holiday had been booked, when in fact there was no booking at all,” Dolan said.

Country knowledge, direct flights

Priority Escapes positioned itself as a Maldives specialist agency, with an ace up its sleeve: Direct flights to Malé with Air Seychelles, which significantly cut down on travel time.

But those direct flights to the Maldives had already ceased in December 2022 and bookings were accepted up to the very end, when Priority Escapes abruptly closed on 12 August 2023.

Swart emailed his clients, saying, “We find ourselves in a position whereby we are unable to meet our financial obligations in respect of Priority Escapes clients and service providers… We have had no option other than to cease trading with immediate effect”.

The agency is now in liquidation.

Last month, the National Consumer Commission (NCC), working with the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, obtained a preservation order against two bank accounts belonging to Priority Escapes and Swart.

In a press release, the commission said it had investigated several complaints about Priority Escapes and Swart.

Priority Escapes, it said, advertised travel trips to the Maldives, took deposits or full payments for the trips, and issued fake confirmation documents.

The NCC found Priority Escapes and Swart to be in contravention of section 47 of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which says when a supplier has taken a reservation and fails to supply goods or services on an agreed date or time due to a shortage of stock or incapacity, the supplier must either provide the same or equivalent goods or services to the consumer, or refund all amounts paid — with the prescribed interest and incidental costs — for breach of the agreement, unless the circumstances are beyond the supplier’s control and the supplier took reasonable steps to inform the consumer of the shortage or incapacity.

Denial

In September, Swart denied criminal intent, telling Devi Sankaree Govender of the Devi Show on eNCA that he had been funding his business himself to meet historic obligations to his customers, employees and suppliers, and that he hadn’t profited personally from the business’s failure — on the contrary, he stood to lose everything he had.

On Tuesday, his attorney, Tracey Lomax, refuted allegations in the media that he was a “fugitive from justice”.

“These allegations are untrue. Mr Swart has been in contact and cooperating with the Hawks and SAPS for some time and, even prior to the SAPS spokesperson making the untrue announcement that Mr Swart was being ‘sought’ by the police, he had arranged to hand himself over.

“Mr Swart handed himself over to the Modimolle police station, [was] brought before court and granted bail. The matter has been postponed for further investigation.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Flights of fantasy — avoid falling victim to a travel swindle

“Mr Swart thanks the Modimolle police station, and particularly Captain Scholtz and Col Greeff for their cooperation and assistance in this regard.”

Lomax said AfriForum’s clients had yet to lodge a claim with Priority Escapes’ liquidator, despite her urging AfriForum to do so. “Clients are again urged to lodge claims with the liquidator as there will be a dividend to creditors.

“Mr Swart furthermore notes with disappointment that most media houses are content to pursue narratives regarding this matter which ignore the facts and has instructed his attorney to take legal steps against those media houses which have chosen to depict him as a fugitive, as a criminal.”

Meanwhile, it seems AfriForum is not Swart’s only problem. The Hawks have confirmed that its investigation is at an advanced stage and that the docket has been referred to the director of public prosecutions for a decision and allocation of a prosecutor. DM

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Country knowledge, direct flights

Denial