Premier Alex Scott turned down a request to hold a reception for Bahamian businessman Dr. Rudolph King on the advice of the Government?s public relations chief, it emerged yesterday.

Dr. King hit the headlines earlier this month after claiming he was bringing a host of famous names, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, to Bermuda for a prestigious award ceremony.

But an investigation by revealed that many of those allegedly attending the June 30 event, to be held at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel, knew nothing about it and had not agreed to come to the Island.

The 2006 Global Vision Awards of Excellence have since been ?postponed?, according to a statement released by Dr. King?s organisation, the King Humanitarian and Global Foundation.

Beverle Lottimore, Government?s director of communication, revealed yesterday that Dr. King had written to the Premier to invite him to the awards night and to ask if Mr. Scott would hold a reception in his honour.

But checks done by Ms Lottimore on the entrepreneur and his charity raised concerns and both requests were turned down.

Ms Lottimore said: ?He had asked the Premier to participate. We called down to his offices (in Florida) and they kept giving us a song and dance. We made a decision that we would not participate.?

She said alarm bells began to ring as soon as a letter written from Dr. King was passed to her from the Premier.

?The Premier said ?do you know this guy?? I said ?let me do my homework?.?

She said she found the invitations unusual considering Dr. King had never met the Premier ?in his entire life?.

The apparent lack of a website for the foundation also gave cause for concern. ?He called and asked him if he would be a part of this whole thing,? said Ms Lottimore. ?Then he asked the Premier if he would hold a reception for him and whoever he chose to invite, because he said he couldn?t hold a reception in a foreign country.

?My recommendation to the Premier was that he not be involved in it at all. We told them over the phone that no, we would not be involved.? Wayne Smith, executive director of Bermuda Alliance for Tourism, has said Dr. King told him that he was having server problems with his website.