LibVan leader calls for full EuroManx investigation

Claims taxpayer could be owed almost £1.4million

The leader of the Liberal Vannin party is formally calling upon all members of Tynwald to support a full investigation into 'the EuroManx affair,' following the firm's collapse in 2008.

Kate Beecroft has written to Chief Minister Howard Quayle, and all other members of Tynwald, to request the inquiry, which could potentially see the Isle of Man Government repaid almost £1.4million.

It's thought the demise of EuroManx saw costs incurred by the taxpayer to a similar value, and Mrs Beecroft thinks those losses could be reclaimed from Lloyds Bank.

The company was a Manx airline based at Ronaldsway, which announced it was ceasing all operations on 9 May 2008, blaming rising fuel prices and reduced passenger numbers.

Mrs Beecroft's letter to Mr Quayle references Hansard from the then-Chief Minister Tony Brown in May 2008, when he told the House of Keys of government's "considerable efforts made in an endeavour to keep EuroManx trading."

New evidence has now come to light, Mrs Beecroft says, from the "extensive investigations" by Thames Valley Police as part of 'Operation Hornet', and the subsequent convictions of persons involved in substantial frauds emanating from Halifax Bank of Scotland in Reading, now part of the Lloyds Bank Group.

Added to which, there's been an internal report, now made public, by a former employee of Lloyds Bank, Sally Masterton, entitled the 'Project Lord Turnbull' report.

Finally, in February this year, the official liquidator of Corporate Jet Realisations Ltd. filed his final statement and application for his discharge as liquidator of that company at Companies House UK.

Corporate Jet Realisations Ltd. is the most recent incarnation of Ever 1892 Limited, which was the parent company of EuroManx whilst called Corporate Jet Services Ltd.

Mrs Beecroft argues upon the consideration of all this new evidence, "there is no doubt in [her] mind that it is unquestionably in the public interest to urgently have the fullest possible investigation into the Euromanx affair on the Isle of Man."

The topic has been repeatedly raised by Liberal Vannin members since 2008 - in questions from former MHK Peter Karran, and calls for a Public Accounts Committee investigation into the 'affair' recorded in Hansard.