A Cabinet minister last night publically accused the Auditor General of getting away with being a criminal.

Derrick Burgess alleged that Larry Dennis, the Island's independent financial watchdog, should be charged with handing stolen documents over a leaked Police report on the Bermuda Housing Corporation probe.

Mr. Dennis has seen his office raided twice since the Mid-Ocean News and ZBM television carried extracts from the dossier which makes unproven allegations against key Government figures.

He has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods but not charged with any offence.

The Auditor General has described the Police action as an "over-display of power" with the intention of linking him to allegations by the Police and Government that the leak is the result of the Police documents being stolen.

It has been claimed by Premier Ewart Brown that the leak was politically motivated.

Mr. Burgess, who has in the past accused Mr. Dennis of being a racist, last night accused him of bias toward the Opposition United Bermuda Party in a speech to a pre-election Progressive Labour Party rally in Hamilton Parish.

He claimed reports carried in this newspaper of secret notes by Health Minister Michael Scott on a reportedly damaging analysis of healthcare in Bermuda was also based on stolen documents.

A Police probe is ongoing into that matter.Mr. Burgess went on to allege:

"As all Bermuda knows the Auditor receives stolen information and is not charged with receiving stolen goods.

We have the newspaper openly receiving stolen goods and getting away with it.

"He added later: "Why is the Auditor General and the newspaper getting away with crime?"Mr. Dennis, 63, was arrested and held in Police custody for 24 hours after the first raid on June 13.

Documents seized during that operation were sent to the US Secret Service for analysis with further documents seized by detectives during the second raid earlier this month.

The Auditor General has stressed that he has only ever had copies of Police documents relating to the BHC in his possession, never originals.

He commented after the last raid on his office:"It seems, apparently, if the Commissioner of Police wants to do something he has the law behind him.

Maybe he has the Army too, I don't know.

He has everything I have. I've told him the truth from the very beginning. Obviously the facts are not what he wants to hear.

He added:"I think this is a terrible situation. It's a shock to me that we actually experience it in 2007."

He is on Police bail and must report back on December 4.

Mr. Dennis's arrest came under the international media spotlight at the time. Bermuda was likened to a "Police state" by Cayman Islands commentators in June, with Cayman Net News urging its own Government not to "dare follow the Bermuda model" should events similar to the Bermuda Housing Corporation affair happen there.