Premier Ewart Brown yesterday declined to comment on the Police investigation into his Ministry's controversial faith-based tourism initiative.

The Premier has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in the project — run by his former close political colleague Andre Curtis — when it has repeatedly been called into question over the past three years.

However, yesterday Dr. Brown refused to say whether or not he backed the Ministry of Finance's decision to initiate a Police inquiry into the operation.

His press secretary Arnold Minors said there would be no comment during the Police investigation.

Faith-based tourism came back into the spotlight last Friday, when former Auditor General Larry Dennis lambasted the "inexcusable" actions of senior civil servants who allowed Mr. Curtis to pocket $374,500 of taxpayers' money without showing anything in return.

Mr. Curtis' company Harvest Investment Holdings was handed the cash in 2007/08, with a contract stipulating he would set up ten faith-based tourism events and bring 2,200 visitors to the Island.

However, as that fiscal year came and went, the church community raised repeated concerns that the events Mr. Curtis was organising — such as the "Mount Zion Quiz" and a "Prayer Breakfast" — were not the kind of thing to entice people from overseas.

Many people said one event he took credit for, "Weekend Fit For A King", never even happened.

Independent MP Wayne Furbert, a well-known member of the church community, said at the time if you discount the performers themselves, the number of visitors faith-based tourism attracted throughout the year was probably about ten — some 2,190 short.

This would mean Mr. Curtis achieved 0.45 percent of his target, but received his cash nevertheless.

And performers who did come to the Island — such as British preacher Bishop John Francis and American preacher Jamal Bryant — complained they were also out of pocket because Mr. Curtis failed to pay them.

Dr. Brown and Mr. Curtis strongly denied the suggestion that Mr. Curtis got the contract as a thank-you for running Dr. Brown's Progressive Labour Party constituency in the 2007 General Election.

But in his report tabled last week, Mr. Dennis questioned why the contract had not been put out to tender, despite the fact Government deemed it the kind of project that needed to be tendered.

And Mr. Dennis attacked the public officers who authorised Mr. Curtis' payment of $374,500 without any proof that he had delivered any service.

The auditor said Mr. Curtis had been asked to provide a report of the ten events he organised, saying how many people they brought to the Island and containing international media clippings about them. He failed to do that.

When then United Bermuda Party MP Mr. Furbert first raised questions of the initiative in July 2007, Dr. Brown replied that he was satisfied it was being run in an honest business-like manner.

"The Opposition's wrongful assault is not just an assault on this Government and Mr. Curtis, but an unprovoked and unnecessary assault on a religious effort, an effort which has lifted the hearts of many tourists and touched the souls of many Bermudians," he said at that time.

In March 2008, when it emerged Mr. Curtis was stepping down after a year of almost non-stop criticism, Dr. Brown maintained the initiative represented good value for money.

In June 2008, when Dr. Brown released statistics showing Mr. Curtis had fallen well short of his target, he insisted that information "did not represent a financial statement to faith-based tourism".

He vowed at that time: "It may come as a surprise to some that the answers will speak for themselves."

Shortly afterwards, Dr. Brown's Department of Tourism issued a statement saying: "It is not clear why some Tourism initiative underperformers receive public spotlight and some do not. Nonetheless, no evidence of financial wrongdoing or misuse of taxpayer money has been found."

The Police investigation prompted by the Finance Ministry was launched on August 13, 2009. It is understood this came after Mr. Dennis began his audit into the initiative.

According to Police, the Financial Crime Unit's probe is now at an advanced stage. It is understood the investigation is interconnected to two others into Mr. Curtis and his company, one by Montana State Auditor's Office and another local one.