Government House last night insisted there was no question of replacing under-fire Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen.

The announcement came in the wake of a story in The Royal Gazette yesterday which revealed that a report into the Department of Public Prosecutions compiled a year ago recommended her contract was bought out and she was replaced.

But a statement from Government House last night said: “There has been no question of replacing the DPP until a suitable successor has been identified.”

As The Royal Gazette>reported yesterday, a Government probe into myriad complaints from staff at the Department of Public Prosecutions revealed issues including a management style viewed as “autocratic and arbitrary” by some.

The March, 2006 report, based on interviews with employees, also claimed non Bermudians used language that belittled Bermudians in the department, and listed allegations of favouritism and disrespectful behaviour.

The key recommendation was for Director Vinette Graham-Allen, who is from Jamaica, to be paid off on a no-fault basis and replaced by a Bermudian.

The crisis appears to have continued since the report was completed a year ago. A number of staff departures left the department severely understaffed.

Among them was that of Principal Crown counsel Nicholas Harrison, an experienced Australian prosecutor, who quit his post after just two days last month.

Larry Mussenden, who was Attorney General and Minister of Justice at the time of the report, blamed Governor Sir John Vereker — who has ultimate say over the choice of DPP — for failing to act on the advice and end Mrs Graham-Allen’s contract.

Yesterday, the Bermuda Public Services Union, which represents employees at the DPP, echoed this.

Orin Simmons, Assistant General Secretary of the BPSU said: “The Governor is well aware of the issues but continues to sit on his hands while the problems mount. Ultimately the buck stops at his office.”

He added: “The DPP’s role in this country is too important to the judicial system for those in authority to be sitting idly by with the myriad of ongoing issues there while recommendation after recommendation to try to remedy or address the issues are not being carried out”.

The statement from Government House said that the friction between Bermudian and non-Bermudian employees at the DPP identified in the report was an issue for the senior management of the public service to address. It added: “Many of the problems arose from the difficulty in retaining prosecutors — Bermudian or non-Bermudian — given the higher remuneration that can be achieved in the private sector.

“Retention of legal staff in the public service is not by any means unique to Bermuda. It is a problem common to many jurisdictions. Prolonged staff shortages create extra pressures on staff in many ways, not least through increased workloads.

“Despite that difficult background, it is to the credit of all staff in the DPP’s office that they have continued to achieve good results in terms of the number of cases coming to court and the number of successful convictions.

“There has been no question of replacing the DPP until a suitable successor has been identified, and we do not expect Mrs. Graham-Allen to leave until her contract expires later this year.”

Mrs. Graham-Allen’s contract runs out in July, and her post has been advertised. It has not been revealed whether there have been any Bermudian applicants.

Besides the recommendation that Mrs. Graham-Allen be paid off on a no-fault basis, the 2006 Government report also criticised DPP staff for making direct approaches to Mr. Mussenden to complain about problems they were experiencing.

It suggested that the Premier and Cabinet have a discussion about “the boundaries of Ministerial involvement”.

Shadow Minister of Justice John Barritt, who has previously expressed concern that the prosecution service should be kept clear from any hint of political influence, reiterated this in light of the report.

He said he planned to ask for a meeting with the Governor to discuss his worries, tellinI>The Royal Gazette <$>he was concerned to hear about the then-Minister of Justice “taking a particular side, whether for the right or wrong reason”.

Mr. Barritt said he planned to stress the importance of the separation of powers if he is able to secure a meeting with Sir John.

Asked for his position on paying off Mrs. Graham-Allen, Mr. Barritt replied: “I don’t know all the facts. I want to improve things, not add to the problems by having this bandied about in the press.”

Responding to his comments, Mr. Mussenden said said he did his duty to encourage those responsible for actioning the report, including the Governor, to carry out the recommendations.

“This is nowhere near the claim of political influence that Mr. Barritt speaks of as I did not write the report that stated that the DPP should be replaced,” he said.

“ The responsible people were free to do whatever they wished to do in light of the recommendations of the report in order to improve the department. This is evidenced by the fact that the Governor chose not to follow the recommendations, probably failing the majority of Bermudians who sought a career there.”