Cheques made out to 'E. Brown' and 'D. Burgess' found in Works & Engineering files last year may have been placed by disgruntled workers.

This is according to the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee in the Public Accounts.

The committee investigated the matter when a cheque for $10,000 was found written to Works Minister Derrick Burgess and a cheque for $14,780 to Premier Ewart Brown from LLC Bermuda.

Mr. Burgess and Dr. Brown said at a press conference last year they were victims of a sophisticated smear campaign to make it look like they had received the cheques.

They claimed Permanent Secretary Robert Horton unearthed the cheques while looking through the Ministry's books in response to questions from then Auditor General Larry Dennis.

In the report, the committee asked:

n How the cheques got into the file

n Who had access to the file

n Were they actually presented to a bank for cashing

n Were the cheques paid

n Who was likely the culprit and who had a motive

The committee is made up of chairman and Shadow Finance Minister E.T. (Bob) Richards, Shadow Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin and Government backbenchers Walter Lister, Patrice Minors and Lovitta Foggo.

The report said: "We were concerned about the suspension of the Chief Architect and we understand that upon completion of the investigation, he was fully reinstated to his position in the Ministry.

"The withdrawal of Ministry cooperation was a subtext of the bogus cheques episode. It appeared that emotions were running high at this time and may have been exacerbated by incorrect legal advice provided by the late legal consultant to the Minister."

Chief Architect Lawrence Brady, brother-in-law of Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill, was arrested last May in connection with the probe into copies of the cheques.

He was later released on Police bail without charges.

The report continued: "It was clear that the failure to cooperate with the Auditor General was contrary to Section 14 of the Audit Act. The Minister subsequently reversed his position.

"The standoff was unfortunate and unprofessional and should never have happened but stands to highlight the negative impact of Ministerial interference. Your committee concluded that the bogus cheques may have been placed in the file by disgruntled former members of the construction team to embarrass senior Government officials."

The committee said it was satisfied the matter was fully investigated and no further action would be taken.