Bermuda Housing Corporation property officer Terrence Smith is running private architectural design and building consultancy companies out of his office at the publicly-funded BHC, The Royal Gazettes can reveal.

The work number listed on Mr. Smith's business card for Architectural Design Services and Terrence STP Smith and Associates is that of the housing corporation office in Hamilton.

Mr. Smith's card lists a Post Office box in Southampton as its address, but the work number he supplies is at BHC, and the extension number on the card went to Mr. Smith's desk when The Royal Gazette called yesterday. The card states that the companies are `architectural designers/building consultants and general contractors'.

Under the Civil Service Code of Conduct, which the BHC as a publicly-funded body uses as a guide, staff should not take on a second job which places them in a conflict of interest with their employers. And workers seeking to take up second jobs must seek written permission from their head of department.

Mr. Smith had left work when this newspaper tried to contact him yesterday and he did not return messages left on his cell phone.

Architectural Design Services has another number listed in the Yellow Pages. But in previous attempts to call the number during the day, no one answered and there is no answering machine Auditor General Larry Dennis is in the second week of a full investigation into allegations made in the House of Assembly of corruption, kickbacks and inflated payments to contractors.

Health Minister Nelson Bascome, who has responsibility for BHC, said yesterday that if the information about Mr. Smith was correct, the BHC board of directors would want to know about it.

"That may be unusual and I'm pretty sure the board would want to have that information. I would think that this might be of interest to the board that this might be happening," he said.

When asked about rules regarding employees of publicly funded bodies having second jobs and using their employer's office, Mr. Bascome said: "I'm pretty sure Government has done policy and procedures for government employees so I'm pretty sure the Housing Corporation will have rules that are somewhat the same."

The Royal Gazette called BHC board chair Valerie Dill yesterday to find out if the board had given permission to Mr. Smith to run his business, but did not receive a reply. In Tuesday's Royal Gazette, contractor Kevin Pilgrim claimed his company had been kicked off of BHC jobs after he billed Mr. Smith for work he carried out at Mr. Smith's private home in Tee Street, Devonshire.

The Civil Service Code of Conduct, which was agreed last year between Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU) and Government, states employees `should not engage in outside employment or in the conduct of a business, trade of profession without written authority from your head of department.

"Consideration of a request to engage in outside employment is made with regard to whether outside employment would interfere with the proper performance of official duties and whether it would give rise to a conflict of interest." BPSU general secretary Ed Ball said yesterday: "No worker should put themselves in a position where there is a conflict of interest with the principal employer. Certainly if there is any allegation of persons conducting official business in their employer's time, then the employer has the right to investigate. As long as it has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, the matter would have to be dealt with based on the evidence." When asked for an example, Mr. Ball said: "If I work in a medical store selling goods for the employer and I am also selling the same goods to individuals who I have given the impression that it is my company, that's illegal." Auditor General Mr. Dennis said yesterday he was pleased with the number of people who have come forward so far with information. And he urged others to contact him, promising that their identity can be protected if necessary.

He said: "People from outside of the Corporation have come forward and I am happy with the response from those who have come forward. It takes a lot for people to come forward and I am pleased that people have come forward. If they want to remain anonymous, that's fine by me."

When asked how long his investigation will take, Mr. Dennis said: "It depends how much I am expected to quantify. I don't know whether I'm going to do a sample or a 100 percent check."

Mr. Bascome said yesterday he expects that two people, probably civil servants, will be appointed to temporarily replace BHC general manager Raymonde Dill and finance manager Robert Clifford, who were suspended this week until Mr. Dennis completes his investigation.

The BHC board, which suspended the men, said it had done so to protect their professional integrity and said the action did not imply that the pair had been involved in any wrong-doing.

Mr. Bascome added: "Hopefully the auditor will give a report and hopefully it will clear up relatively quickly. It hurts the personal reputation of a number of individuals at the corporation who feel challenged and would like to get back to normalcy and get back to working on the good things the BHC does."