A Darwin travel agent has been found guilty of defrauding a government-subsidised pensioner travel scheme.
The Supreme Court jury yesterday found Alexandra “Xana” Kamitsis of Latitude Travel guilty on 20 counts of obtaining benefits by deception between 2009 and 2013, the ABC reported.
Kamitsis’ Latitude Travel, based in Northern Territory, is in no way associated with Latitude Group Travel based in Victoria.
Kamitsis was found to have fraudulently invoiced the scheme, run by the Northern Territory Health Department, for inflated flight costs when she had actually been buying cheaper flights for pensioners and then pocketing the difference.
The revelation that she had booked a one-way ticket to Los Angeles for travel in December prompted the court’s decision to deny her bail. Kamitsis faces a further 85 charges in separate proceedings.
The police investigation into the affair led to a review of the NT public sector’s travel processes back in March. There were also implications for local government and police officers that were also involved in dealings with Latitude Travel.
