Hiring the best aviation specialists to help restructure Air Vanuatu does not mean cheap services.
Minister of Finance and Economic Management, John Salong, made this clear when responding to the Vanuatu Daily Post over growing concerns that the Vanuatu Goverment will be paying dearly for the services of Ernst and Young (EY), the Liquidator of Air Vanuatu (Operations) Limited (Ltd).
The Vanuatu Daily Post had received information from an anonymous source on Wednesday, June 26, that EY continues to run up a huge bill, which is now over Vatu (VT) 100 million.
“Vanuatu is hiring the best, the best in aviation to help restructure Air Vanuatu, which means they are not cheap,” Minister Salong told the Vanuatu Daily Post.
“If you hire the best that means they are not cheap, every technical assistance I made which came out of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, they are very expensive.
“It was costing us close to VT200 million a month, extra funding to Air Vanuatu, that’s how much it is costing us, we are making a very expensive decision, and if they want to spend to see their families on the weekend, it’s their business.
“So when we get professionals, they are very expensive.”
The expenses started on 9th of May this year when EY was appointed as the Liquidator of Air Vanuatu, with the charter of a large private jet from Melbourne, when all flights and hundreds of passengers were grounded.
“The cost for the private jet charter from Melbourne to Port Vila is VT6 million. The EY team of 6 (and sometimes more) fly home to Brisbane every Friday and return every Monday on Virgin costing the Government VT1 million per week in airfares,” the source alleged.
The source pointed out that the Flight tracking radar below from 9 May confirmed the journey.
In addition, the source alleged all other staff in New Zealand have been terminated, however the only staff to remain employed in New Zealand is the Acting Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) Joseph Laloyer’s daughter.
When contacted, EY informed the Vanuatu Daily Post that Air Vanuatu retains a full complement of staff required to be able to resume operations when it becomes feasible to do so.
“The Liquidator is yet to invoice for its services to secure a future for Vanuatu’s national carrier, …a full cost accounting will be provided to stakeholders as per the Liquidator’s obligations,” EY conveyed.
