Transport Minister Wayne Furbert has promised to pull a coffee vending concession from the Bermuda International Airport because his wife is among the principals in the business.

And he said that in hindsight, he should have told his wife not to accept the request to provide a temporary coffee and drinks service because it could lead to the appearance of a conflict of interest.

However, Shadow Transport Minister Dennis Lister said the entire issue had compromised the integrity of the entire process through which a local company would get the right to run the kiosk concession.

So far four of five applications have been received to operate the kiosk and a decision will be made within two weeks.

Mr. Furbert said his wife Ulene and her relatives -- Valerie Robinson James, Arthur Robinson Jr. Edward Robinson, Shawn Furbert and Marie Robinson Fain -- were not among the four applicants involved in seeking to run the kiosk.

Would-be kiosk operators at the Bermuda International Airport will have to wait another fortnight before the decision is made public.

Four of the five groups who expressed interest in taking over the 335 square foot space in the US post-security level of the Airport and establishing a concession have submitted business proposals to the Air Advisory Committee.

This group has met to decide which proposal it would accept and Mr. Furbert said that he expected a decision from the committee tomorrow.

However the group had asked for more time and he was now calling for an answer next Monday.

Upon receiving a decision, Mr. Furbert said he would take it to Cabinet, then make it public once it was improved there.

Mr. Furbert said that the Department of Airport Operations had approached his wife and several other people about provinding temporary food and drinks at the airport.

Subsequently, Specialty Coffee Ltd., -- his wife Ulene is a principal -- accepted the offer to provide coffee and drinks on a temporary basis.

"I did not award any contract to my wife,'' he said. "There was never any contract to be awarded.

"A temporary service was requested and Specialty Coffee Ltd., which was not incorporated to do anything related to the airport, answered the call on a temporary basis only.

"My wife incorporated that company in response to a need. It is just a machine that dispenses specialty coffee like Expresso and Cappuccino.'' Mr. Furbert said that the Department of Airport Operations heard about it just like anyone else and approached her to use the machine temporarily.

But Mr. Lister torpedoed Mr. Furbert's explanation and called for "full disclosure'' of the events that led up to Specialty Coffee Ltd. being granted temporary access to the airport.

He said a bigger principle was at stake and Mr. Furbert had done violence to it.

"It bothers me when we see members on the other side getting away with conflict of interest like this,'' he said. "In other countries Members of Parliament lose their positions over things like this.

"It is irrelevant that (Mrs. Furbert's business) is involved in the provision of specialty coffee. It is the process that needs to be questioned.'' Wayne Furbert RESTAURANT EAT GOVERNMENT GVT