The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that taxpayers cannot have access to the rules for how government should spend public cash — a policy that Auditor General Larry Dennis said yesterday left him "flabbergasted".

The procedures — aimed at ensuring that "financial transactions are properly recorded and controlled on a consistent basis" — are kept under lock and key and are only available internally, despite dictating how millions of tax dollars are spent each year.

The Royal Gazette's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign — which we have been highlighting all week as part of our Sunshine Week celebrations — aims to persuade the leaders of this country to get rid of such secretive practices and throw open the doors of government.

If Bermuda gets freedom of information legislation — as is due to be tabled in Parliament this year — members of the public or press could request to see the instructions.

Earlier this week, we tried to find out if the tendering process for state contracts would be made more transparent, after Premier Ewart Brown announced that all contracts would be published in the Official Gazette once awarded.

The Premier's press secretary Glenn Jones would tell us only: "The tender process will be conducted in keeping with Financial Instructions as per normal."

An attempt to obtain the instructions was blocked by a civil servant in the Accountant General's office, who said: "I know that what we do should be transparent but why would I hand my bible to you?"

Finance Secretary Donald Scott e-mailed this explanation: "Financial Instructions (or FI) is an internal Government document produced by the Accountant General. It provides the minimum standard for financial controls to help ensure that financial transactions are properly recorded and controlled on a consistent basis. In addition, FI presents guidance on tendering for goods and services procured by government departments.

"FI is reviewed and amended on a regular basis to remain abreast of evolving standards in accounting and audit requirements. FI is available to all public officers as an internal restricted document. FI is used by the Ministry of Finance HQ, Internal Audit and the Office of the Auditor General in monitoring financial control processes within Government."

Mr. Dennis, the Island's independent financial watchdog, said: "I'm sitting here flabbergasted at the mindset in Bermuda that means the rules and regulations that govern the conduct of civil servants in the financial area is a secret document.

"I think it's a very important document that should be available to the public. It is the standards and the kind of controls by which the people's representatives are required to conduct themselves. As such, the public should be aware of the standard by which its civil servants are working. It definitely needs to be public. This is a public statement of the ethics and the conduct of public officials."

Shadow Works and Engineering Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said: "It seems to me that the public would want to know whether their civil servants are following written guidelines, but if we don't know what the guidelines are, how can we know if they are being followed? Seems a catch-22!"

Alex DeCouto, president of the Construction Association of Bermuda, meanwhile, said the organisation applauded the move to announce the awarding of public contracts. He added: "We would like to see most contracts let competitively in the open market — or at least via pre-qualification — particularly during these trying times. There have been announcements of a proposed online tendering system, which is keenly anticipated."

Finance Minister Paula Cox could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

• In the UK, the Office of Government Commerce, part of HM Treasury, publishes online its procedures for awarding contracts — visit http://www.ogc.gov.uk/introduction_to_procurement.asp.