Former Attorney General Phil Perinchief has said he was never consulted over Government's decision to give Sovereign Flight Support permission to offer private jet services at LF Wade International Airport despite Bermuda Aviation Services (BAS) holding the exclusive rights to provide the service.

Mr. Perinchief added that he would probably have advised against the course of action Government took, which was ultimately at great expense to all parties concerned.

Taxpayers will have to pay out $2.75 million after Government struck a deal to waive BAS's exclusivity ($750,000 for funds invested in the pavement of Apron 2 and would receive $2 million in compensation for loss of revenue for the exclusive fixed based operation) and was ordered by Supreme Court to pay more than $202,569.16 in damages for contravening BAS's rights, which ran until 2014, on losing its second appeal.

BAS and its subsidiary Aircraft Services originally filed a writ against Premier Ewart Brown, in his capacity as Minister of Tourism and Transport, and Attorney General at the time Mr. Perinchief, in June 2007.

Dr. Brown said in a press conference that the legal advice his Ministry was given was that the BAS agreement was non-exclusive and, based on that, it proceeded with Sovereign.

But Mr. Perinchief claimed the first he learned of the matter was from reading about it in The Gazette, when this paper first broke the story.

In an e-mail sent to The Gazette, he said the Premier never brought the matter to his attention at any time to be handled by him personally, nor had they personally discussed the issue.

"I have never directly been given the opportunity to give the Premier any advice, legal or otherwise on this issue at any stage or course of its adjudication," he said.

Mr. Perinchief added that he was unaware of whether Dr. Brown and/or former Permanent Secretary of Tourism and Transport Marc Telemaque were in contact with the then Acting Solicitor General Melvin Douglas or any other counsel in Chambers, with no counsel of the Chambers sitting with him to give advice on the matter.

"I sat with the Premier in Cabinet every Tuesday during my tenure, however, he never mentioned the matter to me directly. Neither did Mr. Telemaque. Perhaps it slipped the collective minds of the Premier and Mr. Telemaque to have my view of the matter. Of course, the Premier may have obtained legal advice from private sources or, uncharacteristically, acted unilaterally. You may rest assured, however, that had I been consulted in respect of a non-exclusive contract or agreement, my probable reaction in the absence of any relevant covenants or exceptions would have been against taking the course the Premier ultimately took to the tax-payers, and indeed, Sovereign's disadvantage."

The Opposition has attacked Government over the BAS case in recent weeks, with UBP leader Kim Swan calling for the waste of taxpayers' money by Government to be tackled immediately and Shawn Crockwell, of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, also slamming Government's waste of money on unnecessary legal proceedings, particularly in tough economic times when it needed to raise funds most, and questioning its motives for pursuing the case.

Four days after announcing the settlement with BAS, Government placed an advert inviting interested parties to make submissions to offer passenger and ramp handling services for commercial airlines and/or private aircraft at the airport, with those short-listed being called to a briefing by the Department of Airport Operations on the week commencing November 30.

Government decided not to renew Sovereign Group Ltd.'s licence to offer private jet services due to a material breach after it expired at the end of June in a separate matter from the court ruling upholding BAS's exclusive rights, but Sovereign would now be able to apply to offer the services advertised by Government.

Have your say. Let us know what you think about this story. Contact the business desk on business@royalgazette.bm