GOVERNMENT is flouting the law by its failure to present two completed Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) annual reports from the past two years to Parliament.

Two separate sources have indicated to the that the BHC annual report for 2002 ? covering part of the period of "out of control" management, as described by Auditor General Larry Dennis ? has been in the possession of Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent "for months" and the 2003 report had been completed in October.

Neither was tabled during the November-December session of Parliament, as they apparently should have been to comply with the Bermuda Housing Act 1980.

Opposition Whip John Barritt said the fact the reports had not reached the House of Assembly was typical of a pattern of secrecy seen from the Government.

And he accused the Government of repeatedly putting pressure on Speaker Stanley Lowe to use parliamentary rules to "stymie and block debate at every turn".

The Government has failed to table a BHC annual report since 2001, despite the law's requirement that it does so every year.

The annual reports since then and the Auditor General's reports on the BHC accounts, also required by the Act, were delayed by the two-year police investigation into the financial affairs of the Corporation.

The Bermuda Housing Act 1980, part two, section 25, states: "The Corporation (BHC) shall, as soon as practicable, and in any case not later than six months after the termination of each financial year, submit an annual report to the (Housing) Minister on the activities of the Corporation.

"The Minister shall as soon as practicable after receiving the report of the Corporation, lay such report before both Houses of the Legislature and such report shall be accompanied by the report of the Auditor General made under section 24."

Mr. Barritt said the delayed tabling of the reports was unacceptable, as was the failure to debate the Auditor General's scathing report on the BHC.

"The Government has not tabled the BHC annual reports of 2002 and 2003 and they should by now have tabled the 2004 report," Mr. Barritt said.

"I think they want to delay until they can show something that's favourable to them. When you think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' dollars that were mismanaged, the situation is unacceptable."

Mr. Dennis completed his inquiry in May 2002 and it was used as the basis of a police investigation over the following two years. The report was made available to the public in August this year.

Since early November, Mr. Barritt said, the Opposition had tried to table the report in the House of Assembly, along with a motion to endorse Mr. Dennis' work, but the Speaker had rebuffed them.

Two weeks ago, the Speaker allowed Premier Alex Scott to table the report, and moved that the House "take note" of it. The move means the Premier will decide when and whether the report will be debated.

"The report was already in the public domain so we brought 40 copies of it to distribute to Members," Mr. Barritt said. "But the Speaker said that, in his view, this was a Government report and only Government could table it in the House.

"This fell neatly into the lap of the Premier, who, knowing what we wanted to do, was able to bring the report to the House and put down his own 'take note' motion.

"This blocked us from bringing our motion and from having control of the motion. And, as long as it is on the Order Paper, the rules prevent us from discussing it in the House."

The Auditor's report catalogued serious mismanagement in the BHC. It referred to contractors being allowed to double bill the Corporation, established policies being ignored, the responsibilities of the board to oversee the BHC being "virtually abolished" and even two Government MPs involved in substantial dealings with the BHC without declaring their interests.

Mr. Barritt said it was "an outrage" that Government was blocking debate on such serious matters.

"Government has been able to manipulate the system to achieve what?" he said. "The only achievement is to ensure that the report does not get a full and proper airing in the House of Assembly. They seem to think the more time they leave it the easier it will be to deal with.

"The funny thing is that here is a report that the Premier made public in August. Since then, we've seen the chairman of the BHC give a press conference to say that everything's sorted. People can discuss it on the street corners and in bars. But elected Members of Parliament have not been allowed to discuss it."

With Parliament in recess until February 18, another ten weeks would now go by without the BHC report being discussed, and probably much more, as the Budget is likely to be presented when MPs return, Mr. Barritt added.

We sent questions to the Premier eight days ago, inviting him to comment on his intentions regarding the BHC report debate. By press time last night, we had still received no response.

Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent did not answer a message from this newspaper yesterday and neither did BHC general manager Vance Campbell.

The case of the Auditor's report was not the first time this year the Opposition's efforts to debate the BHC have foundered upon the Speaker's orders.

In June, Shadow Minister Wayne Furbert tabled a motion that "this House deplores the failure of the Government to lay before the Legislature, as required by Section 25 of the Bermuda Housing Act, annual reports of the BHC for the financial years 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04".

Speaker Mr. Lowe refused to allow a debate on the motion as he believed a wide-ranging debate could be prejudicial to criminal proceedings, as the police investigation was still ongoing at that time.

And Mr. Barritt submitted further evidence of the Government leaning heavily on the Speaker from May this year, when Shadow Works & Engineering Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin put forward the following motion: "That this honourable House deplores the systematic misinformation and lack of accountability surrounding the PLP Government's mismanagement of the Senior Secondary School construction project at Berkeley."

The Speaker said Government Whip Ottiwell Simmons had made representations to him and he had decided to order an amendment of the motion to delete words that were "unbecoming" and therefore against House rules.

The amended motion read: "That this Honourable House deplores the management and apparent lack of accountability regarding the Senior Secondary School construction project at Berkeley."

Mr. Barritt suggested the Government's idea of disclosure was a Ministerial statement, without any questioning of it.

He added that a quote from the Bible came to mind: "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."