Gordon 'Butch' Stewart - File

Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, the chairman of Sandals Resorts International, has strongly denied any intention on the part of his company to use what was characterised as "excess utility services capacity" at the Sandals Whitehouse hotel for the benefit of an adjoining hotel which he had earlier intended to construct.

Mr. Stewart described as "absolutely inaccurate", claims by K.D. Knight, a government member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), that this was the rationale behind certain design specifications for some facilities at the Whitehouse property. "You could not be further from the truth!" Mr. Stewart asserted in a robust response to Mr. Knight's accusation.

Outlining his theory, Mr. Knight listed several features of the Sandals Whitehouse property - the air-conditioning system, the laundry and the standby generator - which he claimed "could have serviced the hotel you contemplated building".

In his last appearance before the PAC, Mr. Stewart disclosed that he had contemplated building a second hotel in proximity to the controversial Sandals property, constructed under a joint venture agreement with the Government.

That was some time before the controversy broke regarding the US$43 million cost overruns on the Sandals Whitehouse project, over which the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and Gorstew Limited, a Stewart-led company, are now at legal loggerheads.

Describing Whitehouse as new territory for this level of development, Mr. Stewart said it was important to ensure that the 'back-of-the-house facilities' such as the laundry, standby electricity generator and air-conditioning system were adequate.

Mr. Knight rejected the claim, however, characterising these facilities as being not just adequate, but "excessive and exaggerated", beyond the required capacity of one hotel. "You put it in there because you knew you planned to build a hotel next door and you wanted to use those very same facilities!" he charged.

Opposition member Clive Mullings demanded that Mr. Knight either produce evidence to support his claim or withdraw the allegation. The demand was ignored by Mr. Knight who, throughout the PAC's deliberations on the Sandals Whitehouse issue, has been the most cantankerous of the participants.

Seeking to justify his allegation, he said he had relied heavily on the forensic audit report on the Whitehouse project. That report, he said, had concluded that the facilities were excessive.

That aspect of the forensic audit report was strongly criticised by Jeremy Brown, of Implementation Limited, a consultant on the Sandals Whitehouse project.

The size of the laundry, he said, was in keeping with the standard size for Sandals, which was based on the weight of laundry per room per day, with the equipment being sized in keeping with the total weight and the hours of operation of the laundry.

Later, responding to questions from Opposition member, Audley Shaw, Mr. Brown agreed that a "proper" forensic audit still needed to be done on the project. "I don't think you will have a proper explanation for the US$43 million overrun until a proper forensic audit is done," he said.