A minister targeted by a plot involving forged cheques has lashed out about the handling of the investigation.

Addressing the House of Assembly, Derrick Burgess, who was linked with Ewart Brown in the plan, said that throughout the process no one ever condemned the person or persons who forged the cheques.

“The victim of this cruel act was made out to be the villain by all concerned,” he said. “No one condemned the perpetrator. Not one of them. And they talked about integrity and principles. They have none of that, because it didn’t happen to them.

“Their children didn’t have to feel that happen. When you don’t feel it yourselves, you act differently.”

He harshly criticised the former Auditor-General, Heather Jacob Matthews, for how she carried out her investigation, including her decision to approach government lawyers and threaten them with legal action if they did not release documents protected by privilege.

“The Auditor-General went as far as threatening lawyers in the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General’s chambers because they wouldn’t release documents to her,” he said. “She threatened to lock them up and fines.”

He said later: “It’s obvious the Auditor-General was energised and wanted to do a damning report.”

Recollecting the incident, he said he first recalled seeing a story about cheques and a pair of unnamed ministers in the Mid-Ocean News in December of 2008, but did not pay attention to it until months later when the then Minister of Finance broached the subject in a Cabinet meeting, in which he was told he needed to get a lawyer. Mr Burgess said that once he was approached about the cheques, he was able to prove his innocence in a matter of minutes, showing that neither of the cheques had been made out to him or cashed by him. Rather, both cheques were cashed by the party they were originally made out to.

Asked about the question of where any profits of the lawsuit would go, he said it was a matter that could have easily been fixed.

“I have a document that the lawyer sent in August of 2011,” he said. “He spoke to the Attorney-General’s chambers in Bermuda and that question came up. The lawyer said that money was to go to Government, but no documents were ever made up. I’m not the lawyer.

“I didn’t make the choice to have this in my name. I was called by the Attorney-General’s chambers to ask me if I minded that this case went in my name. I asked why, and they said in Canada governments cannot sue for defamation. I said I had no problem with that.”

The Progressive Labour Party backbencher also defended his record as a minister, saying that he worked hard to reduce the budget in his ministry. He noted one case when he was approached about a project to renovate offices for the Bermuda Police Service and was told the estimated cost of the project was $1.2 million.

Surprised, he asked for estimates from two businesses and was given quotes of $310,000 and $287,000.

“Where was that million going? You don’t make a mistake like that,” he said. “What was that about? I wonder how long this has been going on. That scares me, because I can tell you when I was Minister of Public Works when I was asked to cut my budget, I did it. No problem. We worried about trying to save money, not spend money. That has always been my style.”

He said he was looking forward to speaking to the PAC today about government spending.

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem might inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any slanderous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.