Mr. Speaker, the minutes from the April 10, 2000 meeting show that Everest had started its work organizing the Secretary of State for Amateur Sport's tour seven weeks before the contract was signed with the government. This is quite a financial risk for a company.
Who had enough clout to give Everest a solid enough guarantee that it would take on the risk of carrying out a large part of this contract, without yet having been awarded it officially? This had to come from the top.