THE rumour machine is going wild in a booming seaside town with the recent sale of a beachfront property linked to a dispute between a highly placed PNMite and a South-based contractor.

The sale is said to be part of a deal between the two to put certain events behind them.

However, the contractor might have blown their cover with his extravagant ways.

The contractor was always a big spender, known far and wide for his generosity, but had fallen on lean times and had to keep a low profile for a while after exposing an underhand deal between himself and the well-placed PNMite.

The contractor spilled the beans when the big PNM man didn’t cause certain lucrative contracts to come his way as agreed, but the expose opened a can of worms for the two lifelong friends.

Extensive damage control measures failed to clean up the image of the two until the contractor realised that he, too, could go down on bribery and corruption charges.

Quite suddenly, the contractor returned to his big spending ways.

In explaining his new wealth, he told villagers that he received a 10 per cent commission on a $200 million contract in the US.

But somehow, villagers suspect that the contractor accepted a big payoff to keep his mouth shut and allow certain charges surrounding the expose to be thrown out.

The villagers, however, have little to say about the matter, as the contractor, who also has connections with the PNM at the local level, continues to use his wealth and connections to bring paved roads, water, and cable television to the area.

While the big PNMite and the contractor still aren’t the best of friends, bigger men in the party are satisfied that the whole fiasco would blow over completely in time for the next election.