TICO conviction
TICO has reported the results of a court appeal in a case against Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd.
Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd., Beata Kucharski and Zbigniew Kucharski were convicted on two counts each of failing to maintain trust accounts contrary to the Ontario Travel Industry Act. TICO appealed the sentence for the reason that in imposing sentence, Justice of the Peace Shelley went outside of her jurisdiction. The appeal was heard before Justice D.A. Harris of the Ontario Court of Justice and as a result, 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 received a suspended sentence and must pay restitution to TICO of $25,000 each for a total of $50,000. 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 failure of the company including how the failure affected the travel industry.
On the second count, Panorama Travel & Tours Ltd was fined $25,000.
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.
