The all-but bankrupt company behind this year's 20-20 World Cricket Classic owes Government and many local businesses almost one million dollars, Dale Butler revealed yesterday.

And the Sports Minister was also prepared to confirm what has been suspected for some time: that he had already recommended Government reject the Get Fit Foundation's (GEFF) ?audacious? request for a new $3 million grant to make a proposed 2007 possible.

?I was dumbfounded when they said they needed that much money and I knew immediately that we simply could not justify supporting what was a sinking ship,? he said.

Shedding light on the disastrous financial state of GEFF, Mr. Butler said the English based charity ? which is also a registered Bermudian company ? is a total of $896,000 in arrears.

The figure includes, Mr. Butler revealed, an agreed $200,000 ?management fee? due to Government for the privilege of hosting the Classic in Bermuda and $65,000 still owed to the National Sports Centre for use of the North Field.

The remaining $581,000, he added, is made up by claims from a ?large number? of Bermudian businesses who did work for GEFF but have yet to be paid, with Mr. Butler last night expressing his ?deepest sympathy? for those small businesses worst affected ? one of which is reportedly on the verge of going under.

?The situation is enormously unfortunate,? he said.

?There are many local companies who did work in good faith for GEFF who have been burnt badly by this. I have had a meeting with many of them and they claim to be owed varying amounts, some as much as $60,000 for jobs completed.

?We will obviously do what we can, but at the end of the day it is GEFF who are liable because they are the ones who contracted the work out.?

After a series of meetings with GEFF chief executive Keith Pont and directors Steve Blackman and Caroline Knox, Premier Alex Scott announced in June of last year that Government would invest one million dollars in the new venture ? $750,000 cash and $250,000 in services.

The Classic brought seven international teams of former professional cricketers to the Island in April, while Bermuda's national team was also included and ultimately reached the final, losing to South Africa in front of a capacity crowd.

The high costs of staging the event, however, coupled with the lower than expected ticket sales and visitor numbers, led GEFF to announce two weeks ago that it had made a loss of almost three quarters of a million dollars.

It also emerged soon after that in a new proposal submitted to Government for a 2007 Classic, GEFF had asked for a grant of just under $3 million ? without which, they claimed, a follow-up tournament would not be viable.

But sensing Government was about to turn them down and under pressure from creditors they could not afford to pay, GEFF unexpectedly announced last week that because there had been ?no interest? in sponsoring the Classic for a second year, it had been forced to place itself into receivership.

Mr. Butler said yesterday he has tried to contact GEFF officials repeatedly since the announcement, but had been told on each occasion by email that the matter is being dealt with exclusively by lawyers in Bermuda.

It had not been established by Press time last night who is acting for GEFF.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pont ? a former county cricketer from Essex ? and his business partner Mr. Blackman have not been answering their phones since late last week, while at GEFF's offices in West London, the answer machine greeting has been changed to reflect the name of another company.

Asked yesterday whether Government now regretted doing business with GEFF, Mr. Butler said his only regret was that the event ?had not been anywhere near as profitable as everybody hoped it would be?.

He also confirmed Government had every intention of going after the money it was owed, but realised it would have to ?get in line? with everybody else as the legal process unfolded.

?We are not going to waive our right to that $200,000 ? we now just have to go through the appropriate legal channels like everybody else to get our money,? he said.

?It really is a shame it has come to this. They came to us originally with a very ambitious and exciting project which we bought into. But for one reason or another, they did not meet any of the minimum targets we set for them in order for us to commit for a further year.

?They didn't sell as many tickets as they had hoped and they didn't attract anywhere near the number of overseas visitors they claimed they could attract in the first year through their travel agents.

?So when they came to us with their proposal for a second Classic and said they needed $3 million, well, it just wasn't going to happen and I think they might have known that from my reaction.?