Former faith-based tourism boss Andre Curtis was under fire once again last night after it was claimed he has left British-based Gospel performer Bishop John Francis massively out of pocket.

Bishop Francis' team told The Royal Gazette they spent "thousands of pounds" bringing singers and musicians to the National Stadium for last October's joint churches celebration.

This week, the Bishop's administrator said Mr. Curtis — who received hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars to run the initiative in 2007-08 — had broken his promise to reimburse him.

It comes as this newspaper continues to wait to find out how many get-togethers Mr. Curtis organised throughout the year, and how many tourists they attracted.

Mr. Curtis runs Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown's Progressive Labour Party constituency in Warwick South Central. Both deny faith-based tourism has been used as a method for Dr. Brown to get cash to Mr. Curtis as a thank you gesture.

To justify his $400,000 payment, Mr. Curtis was supposed to organise ten events, bringing 2,200 tourists to the Island.

Mr. Curtis has given inconsistent answers when asked how many events he actually set up, while Opposition MP Wayne Furbert, a vocal critic of Mr. Curtis, maintains the total number of visitors was probably less than 100.

Last month, this newspaper contacted Bishop John Francis via his website to ask if he would be willing to speak to us about a review of faith-based tourism throughout 2007-08.

His administrator replied on Tuesday: "Please be advised that we are in receipt of your email.

"However, it is unfortunate that we are unable to accommodate your request as this event left a sour taste in our mouths.

"We spent thousands of pounds to attend this event. Bringing singers/musicians to Bermuda to support Bishop Francis whilst he was ministering.

"We were promised by The Faith Tourism Board and Mr Andre Curtis, who was acting on their behalf and liaising with our offices, that we would be compensated for our expenditure, however, to this date we have not received any reimbursement.

"We believe that fellow christians should operate in good faith and with integrity.

"Thank you and God bless."

When The Royal Gazette contacted Mr. Curtis yesterday, he said he was in a meeting. Told Bishop Francis was complaining he was still awaiting payment for the October event, Mr. Curtis replied: "He got it today. It was only a few dollars. He got it today. It was a mistake. That's between him and I."

Told Bishop Francis said it was thousands of pounds rather than a few dollars, Mr. Curtis responded: "Please! Anyway, it's been resolved."

He then hung up as this newspaper started to ask him about his involvement in Women of Vision, an event he claims to have helped organise at Fairmont Southampton in February.

It now appears Women of Vision had nothing to do with Mr. Curtis.

This newspaper has been leaked a letter which Women of Vision chairwoman Rev. Marilyn Lambe wrote to Mr. Curtis, dated January 18, in which she expressed her frustration at his performance and said she wanted no involvement or support from faith-based tourism.

Rev. Lambe wrote in the letter, which was copied to the Department of Tourism: "As you know, we have been discussing financial support for a number of months, and we have met every criteria for eligibility as communicated by your department, however, it is less than 30 days prior to the start of the conference and yet there are still more requirements that you have raised (in only vague terms).

"Accordingly, we respectfully decline, and hereby withdraw our request for any involvement by or support of any kind from Faith Based Initiative in connection with our conference.

"Further we hereby instruct that all references to WOVEN and its conference be removed immediately from the website and all other public communications and venues of Faith Based Initiative."

However, in February, when we rang Mr. Curtis and asked how faith-based tourism was going, he cited Women of Vision as an example of its success, saying that more than 1,000 people had attended.

Asked whether he had organised Women of Vision, he replied at the time: "We didn't do too much organising other than hotels." He then said he was in a really important meeting and hung up.

Rev. Lambe declined to comment when approached by this newspaper.

Question marks continue to hang over Weekend Fit For A King, another event Mr. Curtis claims to have arranged last September. No records exist for it and, despite numerous requests, neither the Department of Tourism, Dr. Brown nor Mr. Curtis have given any details about it.

One reader sent us a flyer for an event of that name which took place in 2006, suggesting Mr. Curtis may have been confused when he said he organised it in September 2007.

This newspaper's review of faith-based tourism in 2007-08 remains a work in progress as we await answers to questions initially put to Dr. Brown, the Department of Tourism and Mr. Curtis in July last year.

Dr. Brown has been exercising his right to avoid answering any questions outside the Parliamentary process.

The Royal Gazette's pro-transparency campaign, A Right To Know: Giving People Power, is calling for Government and other public bodies to answer questions about their activities unless they have sound and irrefutable reasons not to.

Dr. Brown says he supports public access to information and describes A Right To Know as a campaign "without opposition".

Last night, Mr. Furbert, a well-known member of the church community, said: "It's clear that Curtis has not lived up to his contract.

"I'm calling on the Premier's good office to do a full investigation. Curtis needs to become honest to the church."

Asked whether he thought the number of visitors had broken the 100 barrier in 2007-08, Mr. Furbert replied: "If he's lucky."

To contribute to this newspaper's review of faith-based tourism in 2007-08, particularly if you know anything about Weekend Fit For A King, e-mail tsmith@royalgazette.bm.