FlyGlobespan administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers will have mixed feelings today following news that under fire credit card processing firm EClear was also placed into administration.

On the one hand its protracted battle through the courts with the mysterious EClear is now over, but the question of what happened to the funds it supposedly owed to FlyGlobespan (and, by extension, the airline’s creditors) remains at large.

In a statement, PWC says it will now be working with BDO, the administrator appointed by the High Court in London to oversee the winding up of EClear, to find the missing money.

“Those who bought services on credit card or visa debit, that have not been supplied, will continue to be protected by consumer card legislation and should contact their credit card issuer.”

During the winding up order, the High Court heard that EClear did not have the £35 million it owed FlyGlobespan in its accounts.

EClear had failed to provide accounts to Companies House in the UK for the 12 months period ending March 2009, triggering a number of alarm bells that efforts to discover how the business ran its operations – and, in turn, processed the airline’s payments –  might be more difficult than expected.

Meanwhile, PWC has confirmed that a “number of interest parties” have bid for customer data held by FlyGlobespan.

The administrator will not disclose the names of the bidders but a sale will be completed shortly.

PWC is selling data belonging to customers who previously allowed FlyGlobespan to share details with third parties.

It will not disclose how many passenger details are included in the sale.

The FlyGlobespan saga continues apace – credit card payment firm E-Clear is in the High Court this week – and administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers clearly needs to find some money for creditors.

Running alongside the various financial shenanigans surrounding the case is news that PWC is trying to sell the Globespan’s “wonderful customer details”.

PWC is so excited that it even sent out a tweet.

Officials are saying little except that the databases up for sale are “marketing and customer” – so potentially thousands of name records, addresses, credit card details, previous trips, etc.

PWC will not say how many records are available and will only share further details “with interested parties” before the deadline of Wednesday 13 January 2010.

The aim of the sale is to provide cash to those owed money by Globespan.

It also “satisfied” that any issues surrounding Data Protection Act have been addressed.

Wonder what former Globespan customers will make of that?

NB: PWC now says only data where customers had notified FlyGlobespan can pass on data to third parties is to be sold.

Some developments in the ongoing FlyGlobespan saga with the administrator asking for under-pressure technology provider to place the £34 million it allegedly owed the airline in a special account.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says discussions between it and the credit card processing firm have taken place but “progress has been limited”.

EClear is being urged to place the disputed £35 million owed to the collapsed airline in a joint account immediately.

EClear has yet to return any calls.

The latest turn of events indicates PWC is perhaps starting to play hardball with EClear almost a week after FlyGlobespan collapsed and the role of EClear in the saga started to emerge.

The official leading the administration for PWC, Bruce Cartwright, says the move will hopefully “go some way to allowing the parties to demonstrate that they are approaching this matter in a cooperative manner”.

The collapse of FlyGlobespan and the subsequent focus on credit card processing systems run by companies such as EClear has thrown up all manner of questions.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has singled out EClear as a key third party in the whole sorry saga of the airline’s financial failure amid accusations that the technology owes its around £34 million.

The issue has gained extra attention when Scottish first minister Alex Salmond waded in late yesterday with a call for a full investigation.

Most members of the public – including one UK national newspaper journalist who contacted Tnooz yesterday – were completely unaware until this week that companies such as EClear exist, it’s only a credit card payment after all.

But exist they do, as customer facing systems (especially in airlines) become more complicated and therefore the requirements for automation and expertise to outsourced companies grow.

In the case of EClear, which said yesterday it is willing to cooperate with PWC in its investigation, it is still difficult to determine exactly how it moved FlyGlobespan’s money around and under what terms it would have set for payment.

Through a series of statements, EClear said it was holding onto the money because it claimed FlyGlobespan did not have business risk insurance.

Clearly there was so kind of dispute between the two companies, made more complicated by reports that EClear chief executive Elias Elia was in talks through a Jersey-based investment firm Halcyon to buy into Globespan on the eve of its collapse.

A number of sources say that Globespan could have been trying to extricate itself from the EClear contract and was attempting to get the money relating to unknown segments back to bolster its cash flow and perhaps preventing its collapse.

However, Globespan may have had a problem with this approach.

Unless EClear has a banking licence (unknown in this case, but unlikely), it would need to be sponsored for its Visa and Mastercard services by a financial institution.

At least until February 2008,  the date of its most recent audited financial report, EClear used the Royal Bank of Scotland for its banking services.

EClear’s sponsoring bank is, however, 100% liable for fulfilling and chargebacks (or disputes) arising from customers with unflown flight segments.

So if EClear was unable (or unwilling) to refund the monies due to FlyGlobespan’s customers, the sponsoring bank is on the line.

If the sponsoring bank declines, which is apparently extremely rare, then Visa and MasterCard are liable.

There is no suggestion that this is exactly what took place, but as the spotlight increasingly focuses on the monies owed and the wider financial difficulties facing Globespan, the relationship and what took place between EClear and the airline’s executives in the weeks leading up to the collapse will be extremely interesting.

EClear, the travel technology company which ran online payment processing systems for FlyGlobespan, has agreed to talk to administrators after coming under intense pressure following the Scottish airline’s collapse.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says the UK-based tech firm has “confirmed their willingness” to co-operate amid reports that FlyGlobespan was owed around £35 million.

Chief executive Elias Elia and other officials are still refusing to return media calls, but the company did finally release a statement:

“E-Clear is committed to working closely with the administrators of The Globespan Group to clarify and address the various complexities around the airline’s financial position, so that matters may be resolved as quickly as possible.”

Tnooz has learned that EClear is coming under further pressure to file its latest accounts to regulators in the UK.

Companies House confirms that EClear is currently four months late in filing its accounts for the 12-months to February 2009.

The company was also late filing its audited accounts for the previous 12-month period to February 2008 and only published the information in March 2009

A Companies House official says EClear was contacted recently to remind it of the missed deadline in August 2009. Under existing rules a company is fined for any delay in filing its accounts or dissolved for failure to disclose financial information.

EClear has grown rapidly in recent years according to reports obtained by Tnooz.

The number of employees at the company was recorded at 121 in February 2008, a jump of over 100 on 18 months before.

Figures across its balance sheet – creditors (£181 million for the group, up thirty-six-fold), debtors (£177 million for the group, up thirty-fold) and revenue (£18.5 million, up nine-fold) – have also increased dramatically over the same period.

Nevertheless, EClear was singled out by Scottish finance secretary John Swinney for criticism over the FlyGlobespan affair, saying the airline was “badly let down” by the technology firm.

Meanwhile, in a statement, PWC says:

“The administrators have also had a preliminary discussion with E-Clear who have confirmed their willingness to fully co-operate with the administrators’ investigations.

“Further discussions are planned early next week when it is expected the parties will seek to agree an estimate of the likely chargebacks for unflown bookings.”7

NB: Tour operator Allbury Travel Group went into administration yesterday. Allbury just happens to be owned by British Virgin Islands-based Allbury Ltd, controlled by one Elias Elia.

Dark clouds are forming around the relationship between the collapsed FlyGlobespan airline business in Scotland and its travel technology partner EClear.

In a statement, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrator appointed to handle the financial affairs following FlyGlobespan’s demise on Wednesday 16 December, says it is “shifting much of their focus” to the business activities of the company.

EClear is a UK-based credit card processing technology firm which worked with FlyGlobespan to handle online customer payments, but has now found itself at the centre of growing concern that the airline was owed substantial monies by a number of third parties.

Prior to PWC’s announcement, Tnooz attempted to obtain clarification from EClear officials, including chief executive Elias Elia, about its relationship with FlyGlobespan parent firm Globespan.

Messages have so far not been remained unanswered.

PWC says the airline was owed around £30 million by third parties – although the BBC is reporting Scottish finance minister John Swinney as saying the figure is closer to £34 million just from EClear alone.

“Having only been appointed last night we are currently investigating the position, and will be proactively taking action to recover funds due to at the earliest opportunity.

“This includes any monies that we identify as being due from Eclear, Globespan’s credit card payment processing company, in excess of any amounts that they are contractually entitled to. However, our priority remains to refund customers who paid by credit card.”

EClear was formed in August 2002 in London and is a regular attendee on the travel technology exhibition and conference circuit in the UK.

The company’s most up to date set of accounts were filed in London in February 2008.

Companies House, a database of registered firms in the UK, says the company is “overdue” on a submission required by August 2009.

In an interesting twist to the story, EClear has interests in a Jersey-based investment vehicle known as Halcyon, which just three days ago was reported to be interested in investing in (and seemingly throwing a lifeline to) Globespan – a development which clearly never saw the light of day.