BUSINESS partners Kevin Bean-Walls and Leon James Williams - recipients of the $4.2 million paid out by the BHC on the Perryville contract - incorporated four construction companies in the space of two years.

Two of those companies have won BHC contracts - at Perryville and Southside - with a combined value of more than $8 million.

And public documents show that another of their construction companies had done no business in the last fiscal year and was at one point threatened with dissolution by the Registrar of Companies.

Mr. Bean-Walls and Mr. Williams founded ACL Construction Ltd. in July, 1999, then OTB Construction Ltd. in October of the same year.

Bermuda Composite Construction Ltd., incorporated in May 2000, was the next to be founded by the pair, followed by Hibiscus Development Ltd. in June 2001.

ACL was the company awarded the Southside project, but BCC took over the contract before ground was broken.

BCC's Register of Members shows that two weeks after the company was incorporated, Island Construction owner Zane DeSilva and contractor and PLP MP Arthur Pitcher became directors.

Both Mr. Pitcher and Mr. DeSilva bought a 25 per cent interest in BCC, giving them the same number of shares as both Mr. Bean-Walls and Mr. Williams.

ACL had worked with Mr. Pitcher before, building the South Shore home of Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, from several months before the Southside project started in November 2000.

Dr. Brown subsequently took out a contract with BCC.

Public records suggest that BCC ran into financial trouble early last year, just a few months after work began on the Southside project. The company's file shows that on March 9, 2001, BCC signed a deal with the Bank of Butterfield that gave the company a $500,000 overdraft facility, borrowed against the Southside contract.

Effectively, it was agreed that income from the Southside contract would be paid to the Bank of Butterfield and returned to BCC only when the $500,000 loan had been fully paid back.

The relevant paragraph in the agreement states: "As a condition of the Company (the Bank) agreeing with the Borrower (BCC) to make the loan, the Borrower has agreed to assign to the Company all the contract moneys to become due in respect of the Contract Agreement (the BHC Southside project) in manner hereafter appearing."

The agreement goes on to state that these moneys would be reassigned to BCC, provided the loan was paid back. BCC's financial situation was not helped by a dispute with Dr. Brown.

Last month, the Bermuda Sun, in an interview with sacked BHC general manager Raymonde Dill, revealed that Dr. Brown was billed $422,000 by BCC for work on his new home.

The Minister withheld payment and referred the issue to his lawyers. Dr. Brown explained to The Royal Gazette that he thought he had been overcharged by $200,000 and that there were "major quality issues".

OTB Construction Ltd. does not appear to have enjoyed the success that the other enterprises started by Mr. Bean-Walls and Mr. Williams have attracted.

A letter sent to OTB's registered office from the then-Registrar of Companies Jeremy Cox and dated July 27, 2001 stated: "The Registrar of Companies has reason to believe that the companies specified in the schedule hereto (which included OTB) are not carrying on business, nor are in operation."

The letter went on to state that: ". . . at expiration of three months from the date of publication of this notice the companies listed on the attached schedule will, unless cause is shown to the contrary, be struck off the Register and dissolved."

The company avoided dissolution, but a letter to Mr. Cox from Miguel Do Couto, assistant vice-president of Chancellor House Ltd., acting as secretary on behalf of OTB, suggested that it was still not engaged in any construction.

The letter, dated March 15, 2002, requested a waiver of the annual Government business fee for this year.

Mr. Do Couto wrote: "I hereby declare that to date OTB Construction Ltd. has not been actively operating in any enterprise for profit and has not received any income over and above $500 in the last fiscal year."