Finance Minister Paula Cox has let politics get in the way of accountability, Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons claims.

Unless the Minister orders a forensic review into allegations of pay-to-play surrounding the Bermuda pension funds, ?we will never see anyone in Government held accountable for unethical activities or conflicts of interest that have already occurred,? Dr. Gibbons said.

?It appears that neither Minister Cox nor Premier Scott feel any need to get to the bottom of a scandal that has sapped the credibility of Bermuda?s pension fund management.?

Dr. Gibbons said the independent governance review that Government has commissioned in the wake of allegations of a pay-to-play scandal, was ?inadequate?.

The allegations first surfaced when it was revealed that Government?s pension fund consultant Tina Poitevien had arranged what has been termed a luncheon for Deputy Premier Ewart Brown.

Guests, who were allegedly all money managers or consultants either connected with or potentially connected with the Bermuda pension funds, were asked to pay $2,500 to attend the luncheon, cheques reportedly being made payable to ?Dr. Ewart Brown (PLP)?.

Dr. Brown, who was Transport Minister at the time, termed the luncheon a ?fundraising? event, saying that the funds then went into his personal election campaign in the 2003 General Election.

However others ? Dr. Gibbons included ? have termed the luncheon a ?shocking example? of pay-to-play, the practice whereby money managers pay money towards those in power in order to ?play? ? do business with ? them later.

When the allegations were made Ms Cox announced that Government has commissioned an independent review into Bermuda?s pension funds. However it was later revealed that the consultant conducting the review, Al Kiel of Canadian firm Morneau Sobeco, was not at first informed about any of the pay-to-play allegations or accusations of conflicts of interest.

The Finance Ministry later said he was informed about ?all of the information which has been in the public domain?.

It was also revealed that Mr. Kiel has worked as a consultant for Government on previous occasions, leaving Dr. Gibbons sure that the governance review will be ?inadequate?.

?There is nothing in Minister Cox?s instructions that mentions recent conflicts of interest with Cabinet Ministers, like Dr. Brown, or other members of the Government, or the Progressive Labour Party ? the very problems that necessitated a review in the first place,? he said yesterday.

?Only a forensic review will get to the core of what?s needed here, but it seems the taxpayer will pay for a governance review that is politically compromised before it even begins.

?I?m disappointed that the Minister has let political considerations interfere with a proper and thorough review. Clearly she doesn?t want to tackle the serious issues of conflict of interest and unethical behaviour that have already been revealed.

?To date, she has not acknowledged that Dr. Brown shares collective responsibility as a Cabinet Minister for the Government pension funds.

?She has not asked Tina Poitevien, the pension consultant responsible for the fundraising lunches, to step aside.

?Nor has Minister Cox promised to make the review public, which is unfortunate, as the PLP Government has a dismal track record for releasing full reports in a timely manner.

?In addition, the firm chosen for the review, Morneau Sobeco, is not sufficiently independent of the Ministry of Finance and Government to insure a completely objective investigation.?

?I worked with Mr. Kiel and he did a good job, so my comments have nothing to do with his personal qualifications.

?But he and his firm continued to advise the PLP Government and Ministry of Finance after 1998, including recent work for the Pensions Commission and the Bermuda Hospitals Board.?

An American firm with better knowledge of American regulations and legislation would have been a better choice for the review at any rate, Dr. Gibbons added. ?After all, there are allegations that the Washington fundraising luncheon organised by Ms Poitevien for Dr. Brown may have violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Foreign Agents Registration Act.?