Priority Escapes ‘holiday swindler’: More cases opened against Francois Swart

Another case has been opened against the alleged holiday swindler, Francois Swart (39), who apparently defrauded several would-be holidaymakers.

AfriForum said in a media statement on Friday afternoon that its Private Prosecution Unit helped yet another prospective holidaymaker to lay a criminal complaint against Swart.

Ruan Kruger opened the case at the Douglasdale Police Station on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Swart appeared in court today, relating to a case opened against him in Modimolle in August last year.

“Swart, the managing director of Priority Escapes, is alleged to have defrauded many would-be holiday-makers of hundreds of thousands of rand. The unit now represents several complainants who have filed criminal complaints against Swart,” AfriForum said in the media statement.

According to the civil rights organisation, the state prosecutor asked the court for a postponement to afford the police time to finalise the investigation, as bank statements still needed to be obtained.

“The unit’s consultations with complainants have identified people with close ties to Swart as additional possible suspects.”

While at court, the unit identified, what it labelled “a very serious breach of court security”, which the organisation plan on reporting to the court manager and the Chief Magistrate’s office.

“Swart and his attorney Tracey Lomax parked in the area reserved for Department of Justice employees, and entered the court without going through the security screening all other people are subjected to. They later left the same way despite the unit raising this concern with security personnel.

“Ordinary members of the public are required to fill in a security register, their bags are checked and they are body searched before being allowed into the building. Swart, as an accused person, bypassed this process together with his attorney. This incident has raised concerns that certain accused persons are afforded privileges not granted to ordinary members of the public when attending court proceedings,” AfriForum said in the statement.

Today’s matter has been postponed to April 25.

The allegations

Caxton Network News previously reported that Pamela-Anne Dolan and Bugs van Heerden filed a criminal complaint against Fourways-based travel agency boss Swart at the Modimolle Police Station in August.

“The suspect received full payment from the complainants for him to fulfil holiday arrangements on their behalf. The misrepresentation was furthered when the suspect issued documents purporting that the holiday was arranged and paid in full. It has since been confirmed that the documents the complainants received are false,” said Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit earlier.

Nel said the couple approached AfriForum ‘when they were not provided with the investigating officer’s particulars or engaged by the investigating officer’.

Family left stranded at airport

Several complaints against the company appear on the consumer review website Hello Peter.

The allegations against Priority Escapes include several people losing around R150 000 each that they paid for holidays, would-be honeymooners losing both cash and their dream trip, and families left stranded at airports in foreign countries.

One complainant writes: “We lost R159 000. Our wedding is in 59 days and we are left with no money or honeymoon.”

Another complainant said they are a family of 10 who booked their holiday through Priority Escapes. They later realised that the flight they booked no longer existed and had to pay in extra money to fly a different route to their holiday destination. When they arrived in the Maldives, they were informed that neither of the two hotels they thought they were booked into for two weeks were paid for.