Nato35, you may be pissed off. However, if the above is true and amount asked for by the CAA was ridiculous and couldn't be argued against by the entire team (by which I mean MOD and the CT2 people), would you just say "yes" and stump up the cash?
The CT2 tour operating team have not got to where they are today by signing blank cheques, and I don't suppose they want to start now just for the sake of seeing their "own" airline get into the air. I can sympathise - this is not good from your point of view, but you have to give some credit to them for not being led astray by the whiff of Jet A1 as so many people have been in the past. Aviation can be a horribly expensive pastime if you're not careful.