A BRITISH concert organiser who failed to deliver a mega-event here in 2005 was on Friday ordered to repay the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which pumped $6 million into the now-infamous Listen Live show.

The decision by the country's highest court capped a long-running legal battle between the STB and Mr Tony Hollingsworth, the man behind the doomed concert.

Listen Live had originally been billed as the country's biggest-ever entertainment event. It was supposed to beamed to about 500 million people around the world and raise $150 million for disadvantaged children.

But the concert never got off the ground, and on Friday the Court of Appeal laid the blame on Mr Hollingsworth, saying he had concocted an elaborate charade to dupe the STB into believing he could deliver the show.

Justice V. K. Rajah said the evidence showed that Mr Hollingsworth made no reasonable efforts to get financing for Listen Live and instead, was working behind STB's back to stage the event in New York.

He said the 'patent lack of effort' by Mr Hollingsworth to secure artists and broadcasters was 'but another example the appellants' carefully orchestrated pretence'.

Mr Hollingsworth courted the Singapore Government in 2003, pitching a charity campaign that would culminate in a concert staged here.

Listen Live was touted to draw 20,000 tourists and bring in $30 million.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.