Only days after being accused of carrying out an attack on the Office of the Auditor General, Senator David Burch has trained his sights on Governor Sir John Vereker.

He believes the Queen's representative on the Island should be recalled for allowing the new Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Regiment to be chosen by a defence board headed by a civilian, breaking from a 40-year tradition.

Former Regiment Commander Lt. Col. Burch said the selection process has been compromised, unjustly overlooking the most suitable candidate for "political and personal reasons" and warned the consequences may become apparent later this year when the Regiment conducts its re-engagements.

Speaking in the Senate chamber the Minister of Works and Engineering claimed there had been lobbying and a "revisiting of processes to try and get an answer that was the preconceived result we have today". He went on: "I'm not prepared to sit quietly by regardless of who has made whatever decisions they have made and allow an injustice to exist without offering my comment on it."

Sen. Burch is currently embroiled in controversy after Auditor General Larry Dennis claimed his watchdog financial office had been subjected to an "outright attack" after the Ministry of W&E carried out a sudden removal of furniture from his office at the weekend to place it into a sparse and unequipped new office. While the Minister has denied there has been any attempt to target the Auditor General, he yesterday bluntly called on Governor Sir John to be recalled over the way the new Regiment CO had been chosen.

Sen. Burch led the Regiment in the early 1990s and contrasted the selection process he had been subjected to, to that which led to the appointment of Lt. Col. William White as the new Commanding Officer last Saturday.

While not criticising the new CO he strongly challenged the way the appointment had been made and the appointment of Garry Madeiros, a civilian, to chair the defence board that selected the new commander.

Despite being warned by Senate President Alf Oughton to tread carefully as he brought into question Governor Sir John for allowing a non-military man to head the defence board, he said in an interview outside the chamber that he thought the Queen's representative should be recalled. Sen. Burch explained how he had reached the top post by what he considered a fairer method in the 1990s.

He said: "In 1989 I was a young captain in the Regiment. There was a process commonly known as 'dead man's shoes promotion'. If you hung around enough you eventually got to command. There were so many older people above me that I would be about 60 if they had all got their turn and then I got mine. "During that time arrived in Bermuda a Governor who, in my opinion is the best Governor we have had in my lifetime, Sir Desmond Langley. He also happened to be a Major General in the British Army so understood not only the military but the process of abiding by 'the rules' and the Defence Act required people who were unlikely to command to retire at the age of 45 and he ordered a review of the Regiment."

There was an exodus of the senior officers and as a result Sen. Burch became second in command.

He said: "As part of that review he (Sir Desmond) designed and orchestrated a process by which senior Majors in the Regiment who had been recommended as having potential to command would engage in a test in order to select the best candidate. It would not just be based on seniority."

Passing interviews, written and practical tests Sen. Burch "won" the right to command the Regiment.

"So you had an open and fair process not based upon seniority. This current process in my view has been subjected to political ? with a small 'p' ? and personal preference interference to the detriment of the country and detriment of the Bermuda Regiment. It is certainly not a criticism of the current CO who is caught up in the mix.

"But what it does throw up is that, in Bermuda in 2006, you can have someone who wins at every turn of the process and still doesn't get the prize because people intercede.

"We have a CO who we should get behind and support, but at the same time we must also take steps to ensure that those who are charged with participating in the selection process don't do the same nonsense again. I think it is also contrary to the whole concept of the military and the people who served in the military."

He went on: "What we have is a ridiculous situation where the current Governor, on arriving in Bermuda, decided that contrary to the almost 40 year tradition in the Bermuda Regiment where we had a former commanding officer as chairman of the defence board, so that you had some intimate knowledge about who makes those decisions, he chose a civilian to chair that board.

"He chose a civilian which was a nonsense. As a result of that, lobbying took place and there was a revisiting of processes to try and get an answer that was a preconceived result of what we have today.

"You will probably not see the negative effect on the Regiment immediately but you will most certainly see it when it comes to re-engagements at the end of this year when people will decide that they will express their own views.

"You have an injustice visited upon someone who continues to serve and I want to ensure this type of injustice does not occur again."

After leaving the Senate chamber Sen. Burch said in an interview: "I want the next process not to be abused as it has been in this case.

"The steps that you do in order to achieve that are to remove the chairman of the defence board and I would go further and say it is time for the Governor to be recalled.

"He is the ultimate one who has made a decision that runs contrary to the recommendations of the board. The person who won every contest they had is not the CO today."

Chairman of the Defence Board Garry Madeiros returned to the Island yesterday but declined to comment on the story until he had heard for himself what Sen. Burch said.