Government is "copping out" over the Larry Dennis/Derrick Burgess row, says United Bermuda Party MP Trevor Moniz.

Mr. Moniz was responding to the Human Rights Commission's (HRC) conclusion that it was not empowered by its legislation to deal with Mr. Dennis' complaint against Mr. Burgess.

"It's passing the buck," he said. "It's all a copout. In my view there are offences of inciting racial hatred. In addition to that there's criminal defamation which is where you accuse someone of having committed a racial offence.

"And it's certainly arguable that Derrick Burgess was accusing Larry of being a racist and it's very difficult to construe that he meant other than what he said. Falsely accusing someone of being a racist comes under the view of criminal defamation. Inciting racial hatred is also a criminal offence."

Mr. Dennis lodged his complaint late last year after Mr. Burgess suggested that his thorough investigation of the Berkeley construction project was motivated by the fact that black owned companies were involved.

The row broke out shortly after the release last year of Mr. Dennis' report on the Berkeley Senior Secondary School project.

Mr. Burgess, president of the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) which has business links with the project, publicly suggested that Mr. Dennis "shares the all too common belief that people of African descent are illiterate and chained in darkness."

He accused Mr. Dennis of conducting investigating the project more thoroughly than he normally would because of their union's involvement and because it involved a black construction company.

Mr. Moniz said yesterday that he was concerned enough to bring the matter up with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

"He said he needed a report from someone and usually a report will come from the Police. I said Mr. Tokunbo there's a report in The Royal Gazette... all of these people are saying I'm not going to do something, somebody else should do something. It's a complete cop out, it's unacceptable and it's disgraceful. It would be comical if it wasn't so sad to see people desperately trying to play pass the buck."

He added : "The fact of the matter is that you and I know that if statements of that sort of strength had been made by a white person against black person in Bermuda, action would have been taken. Strong statements would have been made by Government. If I had done it everybody would be down my neck."

The Commission says that while a provision in their governing Act prohibiting racial incitement provides one of the "strongest possibilities" for action it couldn't be used because it specifies a "section of the public" and a single individual is not a section of the public.

"I don't accept that," said Mr. Moniz. "They should be saying `this is a major deficiency in the act and we are going to correct it. Or they can say we are concerned and we are passing it to the DPP that's how concerned we are. This should be a can do society. All they are trying to do is wash their hands, get out of their public duties and walk away from it."

And he claimed that Mr. Burgess's statements had been a "put up job" designed to distract public attention from the "disasters at Berkeley which are now continuing to mount."

Asked why he thought the whole thing was set up, Mr. Moniz said that the labour leader was a "second line of attack" after Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott's attacks on Mr. Dennis "didn't work".

"It was a cheap attempt to manipulate and distract from the issue which is the gross negligence of the Berkeley job... which Alex Scott is attempting to pretend doesn't exist. the Berkeley job is an unmitigated disaster from top to bottom and when they say heads should roll guess what? It starts at the top. Scott is being completely ineffective in getting to the top of the morass... They paid Pro-Active all that money that's magically disappeared."

He said: "I personally like Derrick Burgess but occasionally he goes beyond the pale and when he does he should be pulled up on it."

The legislation is quit clear on its face," said Deputy Commission chair Rod Attride Stirling, also a lawyer. "You don't have to be a lawyer - the meaning is fairly clear in terms of setting out what powers they have... They are entitled to their view, I've looked at the legislation and the legislation is clear on its face.

"In terms of what the Commission is doing about legislative changes, I can't speak to that but there is a legislative review committee."

The Commission's powers, he said, is quite limited. "Quite frankly if the Commission steps outside its jurisdiction it would be criticised by another lawyer."