A Tynwald committee investigation into the Vision Nine TT affair began with a warning that some issues may be sub-judice.

But that didn’t stop the first witness from condemning the ’ill-conceived’ appointment of Vision Nine as promoter of the TT and Classic TT.

Chartered accountant and life-long motorsport enthusiast Ned Bowers told the committee: ’We ended up in a bad place. It was the development of a bad plan.’

In April last year Tynwald approved the appointment of Vision Nine as independent promoter for 10 years with a possible extension for a further five years.

But just seven months later the Department of Economic Development announced it was discontinuing the tender process.

Mr Bowers, treasurer of the Manx Motor Cycle Club for the past 10 years, told the economic policy review committee that he had become concerned at the process by which Vision Nine were appointed.

Mr Bowers said a check of the accounts had showed the holding company was a recently-formed company that had ’yet to make a profit and its solvency was dependent on bringing in additional investor money’.

He also queried the links between Vision Nine and the Sports Consultancy, which had been commissioned by government to look at ways of putting the TT on a more commercial footing.

He pointed out that the Sports Consultancy, according to its own website, had advised Vision Nine on its acquisition of Madame Events.

The website states: ’Vision Nine have established prominent action sports and music events over the last decade, including the Boardmasters, NASS, and Freeze London.

’The Sports Consultancy provided ongoing strategic commercial and legal advice to the Vision Nine team during the acquisition and consolidation phase of the transaction.’

Committee chairman Michael Coleman MLC asked if the Sports Consultancy could ’possibly have favoured Vision Nine?’

’That’s a question for the committee,’ the witness replied.

Mr Bowers said there had initially been three serious bidders but this went down to two, with the merger of bids by North One and ’someone with a very strong business record’, who he named, when pressed, as a ’Barry Baxter’.

Mr Bowers said after plans for a World TT Series were dropped in November 2015, it had been ’quite a tall order’ for bidders to put in submissions by the February deadline for the independent promoter tender.

This gave the impression that there was a already a favoured bidder, he said.

He suggested that there didn’t seem to have been checks made, or questions asked, about whether there were better offers or ’even the credibility of Vision Nine themselves’.

Asked whether he was surprised that no big names had bid for the tender, Mr Bowers said the TT came with a lot of potential costs and risks. ’You’ve got to have someone who truly understands the event,’ he said.

The witness also suggested a conflict on interest with the DED’s motorsport group, naming three staff who he said had been offered jobs within Vision Nine and then redeployed within government when the deal collapsed. He said this was ’common knowledge’.

Next to give evidence was Harvey Garton, chairman of the MMCC, alongside club director John McBride.

Mr Garton told the committee: ’Relationships with DED in recent months are now very much different to where they were. For the first time in some little while we really can see there is a future.’

He said that at the single meeting he had with Vision Nine, just prior to their appointment, it became ’very clear’ that they had ’no idea whatsoever’ about the MGP.

’They just didn’t understand it,’ he said. ’They did not have a knowledge of motorcycling. They were at great pains to explain to us that their only real interest was in putting on events that would add to the whole show. I thought it was a bit strange really.’

He said it was enough of a problem to attract 45,000 people to the TT and questioned how Vision Nine had expected to double visitor numbers. ’Where on earth were they going to stay?’ he asked.

Sub judice means the matter is before the courts and therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere.