Not paying its annual fees could have got Stonington Beach Hotel Ltd. struck off Government?s register of companies, but the ?oversight? has been fixed, according to Bermuda College chairman Raymond Tannock.

The Government Senator said yesterday that the situation had been rectified to prevent the company, which is a Government quango, from remaining on the list of more than 100 companies to be struck off the register in the next three months unless ?cause to the contrary? is shown. The Registrar of Companies reportedly printed the list of firms after numerous attempts to contact the companies by registered letter were not responded to.

Opposition leader Dr. Grant Gibbons told the failure to keep up with fees and respond to the Registrar?s communications was ?yet further evidence that the Bermuda College Board under Mr. Tannock was not paying attention?.

Stonington Beach Hotel Ltd. (SBHL) ? a Government quango established in 1979 to operate the 64-room hotel property on the South Shore, which is also the training ground for the Bermuda College?s Hospitality programme ? has been plagued by financial woes for more than five years prompting a reporting structure change to be decided by Cabinet in 2002.

The change will move it under the Ministry of Tourism, Telecommunications and E-Commerce.

Serious concerns over cash flow problems and debt management under the College?s watch were said to precipitate the proposed change in structure, it was revealed in a recent Government report on its 17 quangos.

The report claimed the Bermuda College had failed to have a strategic plan for the hotel, and charged that it had been functioning in a state of ?limbo? for more than five years. It also said there had been ?inadequate oversight? with the College failing to pay enough attention to the hotel property despite its having long been a drain on Government?s coffers.

Recognising that something must be done, Government put the Stonington Beach Hotel out to tender with Coco Reef Resorts Limited winning the bid and subsequently signing a 50-year lease for the property, now renamed Coco Reef, in May, 2003.

But controversy followed that decision with after it was alleged that Coco Reef owner John Jefferis had links, and had given financial support, to the ruling party.

There were also stinging accusations that Mr. Jefferis was given better terms in his lease than had been layed out during the tendering process.

In the end, he paid less than originally set out in the heads of agreement document and got a five year rent-free holiday; more than doubled the lease from 21 years to 50 years; acquired 5.9 acres of land and two ocean front cottages that were not in the original proposal; and was given permission to build and sell condominiums which were also not part of the original proposal upon which he was selected.

Although SBHL is no longer to come under the Ministry of Education and the Bermuda College, under the terms of its lease, Coco Reef is required to continue providing various hospitality courses for Bermuda College.

Until the lease signed with Coco Reef, SBHL was not only owned but operated by the Bermuda College, under the Bermuda College Act 1974.

Although ownership and operation of SBHL has not yet been moved from the Ministry of Education, Mr. Tannock said yesterday that ?action has been taken so that Coco Reefs is to come under tourism?.

A subdivision of land was also said to be in the process, which will divide the adjoining Bermuda College property from the hotel?s land. Mr. Tannock added that the ?deeds are in the process of being conveyed at this time?.

As SBHL did not have the power, to acquire, hold or dispose of property, the Bermuda College Board of Governors ? who were charged with the hotel?s oversight ? signed the lease with Coco Reef Resorts. But the change in land ownership drew fire from Dr. Gibbons who said: ?I am concerned that there will be even less transparency after the land is actually conveyed,? he said, and pointed to the suspect circumstances surrounding the lease being given to Mr. Jefferis in the first place.