Jazz Festival promoter Lee Heiman has pulled out of running this year's event in disgust at working with Tourism Minister David Allen whom he described as a joke.

Mr. Heiman also slammed Government officials for harassment and showing no compassion days after the World Trade Centre disaster in which colleagues were killed.

He said: "I was in my hotel room when five Immigration people turned up asking for money (for immigration fees).

"It was right after the World Trade Center which we lost people in.

"Immigration did the right thing (by asking for the cash) but the Tourism Department should have handled all that.

"You don't hire outside contractors without sorting all that out."

He said he had to deal with a labour dispute, in which he claimed local workers threatened his crew with a machete, and being threatened with jail in a foreign country by immigration because he had not secured work permits for his staff.

The stand-off led to Americans being barred from working at the Dockyard venue - until the US Consul intervened.

He said: "It doesn't exactly put you in the comfort zone."

He said the last straw was when Tourism's assistant director of marketing Cherie Whitter asked his New York-based Track Entertainment company to submit a written proposal for the event his company had handled for four years when the pair spoke about three weeks ago.

However he admitted he had sought a change in financial arrangements - demanding a flat fee to organise the show which costs about $750,000 to put on, rather than hoping tickets sales put the festival in profit.

Asked why he did not submit details of his new bid to tourism when they had requested it, Mr. Heiman said: "I didn't put it in writing, that would have been wasting my time.

"Allen doesn't like us personally.

"I want to stay away."

He said the Tourism Minister had snubbed him on their last meeting by not shaking his hand or looking him in the eye or even saying goodbye.

"If they wanted me they should reach out but they had requested proposals from a lot of my competitors but nobody does a better job."

"It's a shame when you have put in a certain amount of time building it up over four years.

"I feel terrible about it."

Mr. Heiman voiced frustration over problems surrounding last year's event which ended up being cancelled because flights were stopped after the terrorism scare.

He said Government had employed foreign companies to stage the show because they needed their expertise but then made it difficult to bring in workers by not sorting out immigration details as the previous Government had done.

And he said the company were unfairly seen locally as carpetbaggers who brought in vast amounts of foreign labour and left with piles of cash.

But he said: "We hardly made any money.

"It was a labour of love.

"All those people are shooting themselves in the foot.

"I met David Allen - he's an absolute joke.

"He didn't know anything.

"He thinks the Tourism Department was a sponsor of the festival.

"They are not a sponsor."

He claimed that the contract stipulated his company could never make more than $100,000 and in the festival's second year had given back $50,000 to the tourism department who chip in $250,000 each year.

He said: "That's how close we worked."

The deal gave the lie to Mr. Allen's claim that the Government was a sponsor, said Mr. Heiman.

He said: "When you are a sponsor you don't get back money."

He said each year $40,000 to 50,000 had been paid to Bermudian labourers working on the show.

He said his company did everything from bringing in the talent, setting up the equipment, bringing in sponsors and sorting out the food.

Mr. Heiman blasted the Minister for wasting tens of thousands of dollars on a Las Vegas-style band, believed to be local group Exotique, which flopped.

He said: "It's sick. They don't know what they are doing.

"Run the Country. Don't get involved in entertainment.

"Get Allen out. He's an absolute joke.

"He wasted my time."

Yesterday the Tourism Department said the Jazz Festival would still be going on and potential producers were invited to bid.