The manager of one of Bermuda's top hotels is investigating the claims of a Bahamian businessman who said he planned to host a star-studded awards ceremony on the Island.

Dr. Rudolph King, chairman of the King Humanitarian and Global Foundation, announced at a Press conference on Thursday that he would be bringing a host of famous names, including Halle Berry, Will Smith and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to the Fairmont Southampton for the June 30 ceremony.

But agents for a number of the celebrities, including Ms Berry and Mr. Smith, denied they would be attending the 2006 Global Vision Awards of Excellence, as reported in Friday's edition of The Royal Gazette.

And yesterday, the personal assistant of South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu also dismissed the claim.

Lavinia Browne said: "He is definitely not attending. There is absolutely no plan whatsoever for the Archbishop to come to Bermuda this year. That won't change. He has got a diary that is chock-a-block. They may be inviting him but he is not coming."

Norman Mastalir, general manager of the Fairmont Southampton, would not comment on plans for Dr. King's event. But a hotel spokesman said: "He is doing his own investigation."

Dr. King, who checked out of the Fairmont on Thursday evening, told The Royal Gazette over the telephone yesterday that the ceremony was a private affair and that he did not understand why questions were being asked about his past and the credibility of his claims.

He had said at Thursday's Press conference, to which all media were invited, that the event was to be televised to 185 countries and that tickets would go on sale to the general public.

He claimed on Thursday to hold a doctorate in economics from Cambridge University in England, which he said he received in 2000.

But his name does not appear on a list of students who gained Ph.Ds at the university from 1998 to 2004, nor does another name he has been reported to use, Kermit Rudolph Casito Larado.

In an interview with a Bahamian newspaper several years ago, Dr. King said he had received a diploma in tourism from Cambridge and his honourary doctorate from a college in North Carolina.

It has also proved impossible to verify whether or not Dr. King is an ambassador for Dominica, allowing him to use the courtesy title His Excellency.

The Government's press secretary Sean Douglas confirmed on Thursday that Dr. King was a personal friend of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

But he said yesterday he would be unable to check whether an ambassadorship had been given.