CONVICTED ON TWO COUNTS

Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd., Beata Kucharski and Zbigniew Kucharski have been convicted on two counts each of failing to maintain trust accounts contrary to section 27 of Regulation 26/05 made under the Ontario Travel Industry Act, 2002. On the first count, Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd., Beata Kucharski and Zbigniew Kucharski received a suspended sentence. On the second count, Beata and Zbigniew Kucharski must pay restitution to TICO of $25,000 each. There is no deadline by which the restitution must be paid. In addition Beata and Zbigniew Kucharski and Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd. are subject to a one year probation order where they must write a letter about the court proceedings, and the failure of the company including how the failure affected the travel industry. Beata Kucharski and Zbigniew Kucharski were the principals of Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd. which tried to run a risk air program “Fly Central Europe.” Panorama’s registration under the Act was terminated in May 2011 and TICO paid claims from the Ontario Travel Compensation Fund in the amount of $85,115. TICO has appealed the sentence to the Ontario Court of Justice. Go to http://www.tico.ca for more.