A churchman said there was no contribution paid by Government towards his installation as a pastor despite suggestions otherwise by Andre Curtis.Dwight Grant said Mr Curtis, who headed Government’s Faith-Based Tourism [FBT] initiative, was a member of his New Genesis Fellowship Church and made large financial contributions to it.But Mr Grant said his installation was a private event, funded by the church, and not by FBT.He was called as a witness for the prosecution yesterday in the case against Mr Curtis, who is accused of stealing more than $130,000 of FBT money and spending it on himself.Mr Curtis signed a $400,000 deal with Government in 2006 to organise ten FBT events and attract 2,200 overseas visitors to the Island.According to prosecutor Kirsty-Ann Kiellor, rather than spending the Government money on FBT events, he diverted it into his own pockets.Last week, prosecution witness Jasmin Smith, the Acting Director of Tourism, said Mr Grant’s installation was one of the FBT events listed by Mr Curtis, and billed as “A Weekend Fit for a King.”According to Ms Smith, FBT project manager Henry Campbell e-mailed pictures of the pastor and his wife to the Department of Tourism so it could produce flyers advertising the event at the Hamilton Princess hotel.However, Ms Smith told the jury that Mr Curtis later changed his mind and “got rid of” Weekend Fit for a King.She recalled that happened after the event was advertised in a newspaper, which upset the pastor’s wife and caused her to ask Mr Curtis to withdraw from it.Department of Tourism finance officer Richard Scott told the jury last week that documents from Mr Curtis showed FBT spent $5,000 on Weekend Fit for a King.Mr Scott could not confirm the attendance figure of 194 overseas guests supplied by Mr Curtis as “it was very difficult to verify these visitor numbers”.Quizzed by prosecutor Ms Kiellor yesterday, Mr Grant said Mr Curtis joined his non-denominational ministry in 2006.He explained that church members pay ten percent of their income to the church as a tithe.He detailed cheques Mr Curtis paid to the church: $25,000 that he felt moved to give after “the Lord touched him” during a bible study class in April, 2007, $900 for his tithe in May 2007 and another $100 tithe payment in August, 2007.Ms Kiellor has alleged that payments made by Mr Curtis during this period were examples of him misappropriating public funds for his own personal use.When Mr Grant was quizzed by the prosecutor about who funded the ceremony confirming him as a pastor in September, 2007, Mr Grant replied: “The church.”He said the event was a personal one, with no other purpose, and people from the church helped organise it. Mr Curtis suggested he might be able to help by getting a discounted room rate for guests at the Hamilton Princess.“Was there any financial contribution by Faith-Based Tourism towards the installation?” inquired Ms Kiellor.“No,” replied Mr Grant, who estimated there were fewer than ten international visitors at the event.Answering questions from defence lawyer Mark Pettingill, he confirmed he was aware of “certain controversy brewing,” and “allegations” about Faith-Based Tourism in mid-2007.Mr Grant said he spoke with Mr Curtis about this. He agreed with the defence lawyer’s suggestion that he was satisfied “everything was OK” after the Department of Tourism issued a reassuring press release to the community.While Mr Grant was aware that the $25,000 church donation from Mr Curtis came from his company, Harvest Investment Holdings, he was unaware that Harvest was trading as Faith-Based Tourism.“Did the church give any of that money back to the Bermuda Government?” asked Mr Pettingill.“No sir,” replied Mr Grant.Mr Curtis, 49, from Warwick, denies theft and false accounting, and the case continues.