THE private company given $400,000 a year by Government to organise faith-based concerts for tourists spent more than $100,000 on unrelated expenses in a single month, the Mid-Ocean News can reveal.

According to bank records shown to this newspaper, Harvest Investment Holdings was given $191,000 by Government in two payments in April.

But in the same month, company owner Andre Curtis wrote out cheques to himself to the tune of $35,000 and deposited a further $12,000 into a private savings account.

And the bank statement also shows that Harvest made another payment of $20,264.78 to Vision Construction — a company owned by Mr. Curtis.

Other substantial withdrawals out of the account included a $30,000 cheque to investment firm Emerald Financial Group and a payment of $11,000 to law firm Marshall, Diel and Myers.

Mr. Curtis, who also acts as Premier Ewart Brown's campaign chairman, was tasked with running the Faith-Based Tourism programme by Government last year. His company was given $200,000 in 2006 and a further $400,000 this year from the Department of Tourism .

But last month former Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert raised concerns about the arrangement, claiming there was no accountability and no evidence that Mr. Curtis or his company had kept their side of the bargain.

Both Dr. Brown, who is also Tourism Minister, and Mr. Curtis have so far failed to answer questions on how the money is being spent. A copy of the 2007/2008 contract, printed in yesterday's>Royal Gazette, shows that Harvest is set to receive $400,000 from the Department of Tourism for organising ten faith-based events throughout the year.

The contract states that, while $100,000 is payable to the company once the agreement is signed, further payments can only be made once certain targets have been accomplished.

The contract also decrees that Mr. Curtis is forbidden from speaking to either the media or politicians about his faith-based work without the consent of the Tourism Ministry.

But a copy of a Harvest bank statement, accompanied by photocopies of cheques the company wrote out, show that Government paid $191,000 to Harvest in the first two weeks of the current financial year.

The Bank of Bermuda account statement for April 2007 shows that the company had a credit balance of little more than $300 at the beginning of the month.

On April 5, the company deposited a Government cheque for $25,000. On the following day Mr. Curtis cashed a company cheque for $15,000 — made payable to himself.

The company received a second payment from the Tourism Ministry on April 16, when $166,000 was deposited. On the following day a Harvest cheque for $20,264.78 was cashed by Vision Construction. Mr. Curtis is president of Vision Construction, although no record of the company's existence could be found by the Mid-Ocean News. Another cheque for $20,000, made payable to Andre Curtis, was also cashed on the same day.

The next day, April 18, a further $30,000 was withdrawn from the Harvest account in the form of a cheque made payable to investment company Emerald Financial Group.

Two days later, on April 20, a Harvest cheque for $11,000, made payable to law firm Marshall Diel and Myers was cashed.

Two further withdrawals were made on April 27 and April 30, when cheques for $9,905.87 and $2,000 were deposited into a Bank of Bermuda savings account. The owner of that account was not disclosed on the statement.

The final line on the statement shows a credit balance of around $17,000 at the beginning of May.

When contacted by thI>Mid-Ocean News yesterday afternoon, Mr. Curtis declined to comment other than to say that a press statement would be released shortly.

[obox] Harvest's bank statement also shows that the company did make one faith-based donation during the month. On April 18 a payment of $30,000 was made to New Genesis Ministries, which was set up at the end of 2005 by Rev. Dwight Grant and his wife, Rev. Melody-Dawn Grant. The church is not listed in the telephone directory and calls this week by the Mid-Ocean News to Rev. Grant's home and cell phone were not returned.

However, according to a July 20Royal Gazette report, the church was planning to co-ordinate a youth leadership summit this year with workshops and speakers from Bermuda and abroad.

The Grants said they had also organised a network to help members develop their own businesses.

"We focus all our energy and pool our resources together, helping one person at a time," Rev. Grant was quoted as saying.

Quarter of budget goes on unrelated expenses in month