Mystery surrounds whether the owners of White Sands Hotel have secured a bank loan to pay staff who had gone without wages for months.

Staff at the troubled Paget hotel complained in February that they had not received payment from owner James M Dwyer since December.

Mr. Dwyer told The Royal Gazette last month that he was hoping to get a bank loan by the end of the week to allow him to pay off his creditors on the Island and to give staff the wages they are owed.

Attempts this week to contact Mr. Dwyer have been unsuccessful, and the telephone at White Sands, which was cut off last month, was ringing as constantly busy yesterday.

Angry staff at the hotel complained in February that they had gone two months without pay and said they had found it impossible to contact Mr. Dwyer, who runs the Dwyer Hospitality Group in New Jersey.

The hotel and Mr. Dwyer have also been served writs from companies on the Island for unpaid debts. The most recent was in February from Argus Insurance for unpaid health premiums for staff and insurance for the building.

In The Royal Gazette on February 21, Mr. Dwyer said: "This has been a heartbreaker for me. I love Bermuda, I love White Sands, and I love every member of staff. I have funded the property by a couple of million out of my own pocket and I feel that this year will be a very good year.

"We have a lender in the United States funding a loan which we thought would have had the funds in place in November or the end of December."

"Frankly, I am hoping we will have the funds in place by the end of this week and by the grace of God not later than the following week."