Crossland stepping down at Airtours

DAVID Crossland, founder and chairman of Airtours, today stunned shareholders at its AGM by lashing out at the 'witch-hunt' surrounding auditing firm Andersen following its role in the scandal at US energy giant Enron.

The 55-year-old, whose retirement announcement earlier in the day was partly blamed for a near-5% slump in the shares, defended Andersen's role as the travel group's auditors.

The use of Andersen was especially controversial at Airtours as its finance director David Jardine was a partner at the firm until March 2000 before joining the tour operator later that year.

'The witch-hunt going on around Arthur Andersen in the media is absolutely disgusting,' Crossland said. 'These appalling statements are being made on no evidence at all.'

His outburst came after a shareholder said: 'It appears Arthur Andersen is running the company' - a remark Crossland dismissed as 'malicious'.

Crossland, who was paid more than £1m last year, said he would retire in November. Meanwhile, chief executive Tim Byrne warned investors of 'significantly increased losses' for the first half of the financial year due to September's terrorism in the US.

The shares ended off 12 3/4p at 248p.

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