The Government is under pressure to reveal the status of a fund that was expected to invest tens of millions of dollars into island infrastructure projects.

The Bermuda Infrastructure Fund was established in 2018 by insurance executives who raised $89 million to pump into the economy.

The Government, which had a stake in the fund, was to pay the management company Fortress Investment Group $1 million annually in fees.

But last month it was revealed that a second round of funding for one project — the telecommunications company Horizon — had been pulled.

It is not clear if the fund is still operating or has stopped giving out loans. Gilbert “Artie” Darrell, the founder and CEO of Horizon, would only say: “Our original investors, the Bermuda Infrastructure Fund, their funding period had closed so we only had a short amount of time to get the next capital round in the door.”

The company has now gone into receivership.

But one source close to the fund said that financial support for some projects was still being provided.

The source said: “The investment period — meaning the time during which new investments could be made — has ended, but the fund will keep going with the investments already made.”

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, has failed to answer questions about the fund, despite repeated requests for information from The Royal Gazette in the past three weeks.

Last night Craig Cannonier, the opposition One Bermuda Alliance spokesman for works and engineering, said that the Premier needed to explain if the fund was still operating.

Mr Cannonier said: “The point of this fund was to invest in the local economy and empower local businesses.

“Yet when you have companies like Horizon saying that they’re having financial issues, where is the Government on this? What’s happened to the funding?

“The critical point about this fund was that it was supposed to be transparent about where the funding was going. The funding needed to be given in a timely manner because we’re talking about people’s livelihoods here.

“This government is in trouble. It cannot move. It is paralysed by the major economic concerns that this country is facing. I believe 2023 is going to be a stressful year.

“It’s not going to be good for business and tourism will continue to have challenges and it is the Government’s job to allay and manage those fears. Where’s the leadership?

“When we don’t get any answers from this Government, what that means is that they either haven’t got a clue as to what’s going on or they’re deliberately hiding bad news. Either way it’s very much a case of ‘no news is bad news’.”

The Gazette first e-mailed questions to Mr Burt about the BIF through the government Department of Communications on December 19.

We asked if the fund had been wound down, and if so, why. We also asked for a list of projects the fund had supported since it was established five years ago.

As of press time, Mr Burt had not responded to that inquiry or subsequent follow-up e-mails.

The Royal Gazette has also attempted to contact Joseph Adams, the managing director of New York-based Fortress.

Mr Adams has not replied to multiple e-mails and telephone calls from this newspaper.

Announcing the launch of the fund in November 2017, Mr Burt said that projects the fund might consider included upgrades to energy infrastructure, the redevelopment of Hamilton’s waterfront and new port facilities at Marginal Wharf.

Since then, it is understood that the fund has taken over ownership of the Finger solar farm and also invested in the minicar rental company Rugged Rentals, as well as Horizon. It is not known if other projects have benefited from the fund.