A judge has given the Hamiltonian Hotel and Island Club Ltd. another three weeks to try to make headway with efforts to raise the money to pay off its mounting debts.

The Ministry of Finance has applied to appoint the Official Receiver as provisional liquidator of the Pembroke resort, arguing that it owes more than $1.4 million in unpaid taxes.

In a Supreme Court hearing on Friday, Judge Ian Kawaley agreed to adjourn the case for three weeks — until September 4 — in the light of attempts to save the business against the backdrop of a dispute over who is its rightful owner.

Robin Mayor, representing the Ministry of Finance, said the Hamiltonian owed her client $1.4 million in taxes — and that did not take into account the ongoing non-payment of Government taxes, which amounted to several hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

She added that the Hamiltonian faced several other claims, including one in the amount of $135,000 from the Ministry of Works & Engineering and another for some $40,000 from law firm Wakefield Quin.

"The debts of this company are continuing to rise at a somewhat alarming rate," Ms Mayor told the court.

Jairaj Pachai, representing the company, requested an adjournment of three weeks for the company to arrange the necessary financing to pay off its liabilities.

He added that it was a very long-standing matter and pointed out that it had taken the Ministry of Finance nearly four years to bring it to a head.

Marc Daniels, representing Stephan McGee, who is claiming ownership of the business, also requested a three-week adjournment.

In an interview after the hearing, Mr. Daniels said US national Mr. McGee had been granted power of attorney over the estate of former owner Harold Stavisky, who died in December 2004.

In his will, Mr. Stavisky bequeathed the Hamiltonian to his son Matthew Lawrence Stavisky, who had given Mr. McGee power of attorney.

The management of the Hamiltonian, headed by Douglas Burgess and Margaret Abbadi, is also claiming ownership of the company.

Mr. Daniels said his client had requested the adjournment to allow time to determine his rights. He added that Mr. McGee was keen to speak with the Bermuda Government to resolve the Hamiltonian's situation.

He is concerned that the hotel's liabilities may have been overstated.

"I believe there is a lot of payroll tax and pensions related to people who are listed as employees, but who are no longer employees and have not been for more than a decade in some cases," Mr. Daniels said. "Yet the liabilities have been ongoing."

Mr. McGee wanted to arrive at a solution that would be good for the Hamiltonian, its staff and Bermuda, Mr. Daniels added.

The Hamiltonian's financial problems go back years. A report by Auditor General Larry Dennis in 2003/04 revealed that the Hamiltonian was $918,667 in arrears on pension contributions and former Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess claimed the property had not made any social insurance contributions in 20 years.

In 2006, Mr. Dennis described the Hamiltonian as "an atrocious corporate citizen", when it topped his 'name and shame' list of delinquent taxpayers.

The Debt Enforcement Unit, of the Attorney General's Chambers, sued the Hamiltonian in 2006 over the failure to pay more than $1 million in seven different Government taxes.

The resort, which is located on top of Langton Hill in Pembroke, rents out apartments with swimming pool and tennis court facilities.