11/08/2019 16:58

Premier’s office sealed up – Part 11

[IMG=18146-3623] In the morning on October 24th BANKO operational team correspondent Alyona Tsapenko came to the office of Premier Travel Service to meet its General Director Albert Potapov (see news for October 19). However, no one from the company’s staff was there: ‘The building’s chief security officer says that Premier’s office has been sealed up since Friday by order of the economic crime department of Moscow’s Central Department of Internal Affairs (UVD). According to the security officer, Albert Potapov came today at 10 a. m. and asked a guard to open the office, as he wanted to take personnel work record books. This permission was not given and Mr. Potapov went to a police station to complete formalities. Representatives from travel agencies also came up to Premier’s office. A manager of one of these agencies, Ice Nut, said that the operator owed the agency about $2,000 for six tourists scheduled to leave for Dubai on November 4th. There also came an Intourist official who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, the operator’s debt to Intourist amounted to 34,000 rubles. But the official promised to give more details on the relationship with Premier during a personal meeting with one of our correspondents.’ At the moment Alyona Tsapenko is in Moscow’s Central UVD getting details from police officers. Simultaneously BANKO received a call from Olga Rybina, Premier’s Executive Director. ‘Albert Potapov will come to the office tomorrow, on October 25th, after he settles all problems with police. Besides him, I and three other employees will be there. We are not going to sell any tours, and the whole day will be devoted to communication with travel agencies,’ Ms. Rybina told BANKO correspondent and added that the operator did not intend to declare itself bankrupt until it paid off its staff and travel companies.