Government Senator and former Bermuda College Board chairman Raymond Tannock last night refuted allegations that he granted perks to the college?s president without proper approval.

The PLP politician is understood to be implicated in a report presented to the Public Accounts Committee this week which claims that Dr. Charles Green enjoyed membership of an exclusive club and had his telephone and electricity bills paid ? all from the public purse and to the tune of $20,000.

Sen. Tannock was chairman when Dr. Green was appointed in 2004 for a limited three-year period. He told yesterday: ?I don?t have a problem defending myself. I have done nothing that I feel ashamed of.?

He said payment of Dr. Green?s membership and food and drinks tab at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club was approved by the College Board.

The idea, he said, was for Dr. Green to mingle with the business community and improve the college?s reputation.

?That?s something that I sanctioned, along with the board, because the college had gone through a very rough period where people were not coming to the college.

?We needed to get these people to buy into the college. We have more people now looking at doing business with the college.?

He said payment of Dr. Green?s electricity and telephone bills was part of the president?s contract and did not need board approval. ?I feel quite comfortable with that because we were asking this person to come in for a fixed period of time. We had agreed the package.?

He said renovations to the cottage used by the president ? and to another home on the Stonington campus ? were deemed an investment because the properties were likely to be rented out in the future and would be a source of income.

That work was approved by the college?s Buildings and Grounds Committee, he said, and was carried out over a long period of time.

?I can?t say whether it was put out to tender,? he added. ?There was a figure discussed but when you go into a building and you are doing repairs, you will find things that need to be done.?

Sen. Tannock said his successor Nalton Brangman, who carried out the investigation into the alleged perks, had not contacted him.

He added: ?We followed a good code of conduct. We made some mistakes and there were some things that were not done. We were behind in some reporting matters but we made every effort to get caught up.

?There may be something that the PAC says we did not do. I don?t think that should be used to negate all the good work that has been done.?