OPPOSITION MP Maxwell Burgess came under attack from the Progressive Labour Party yesterday after he voiced rumours in the House of Assembly that arrest warrants were out for Members of Parliament.

Mr. Burgess made the remark during the Budget debate late on Wednesday night, suggesting that warrants in connection with the Bermuda Housing Corporation inquiry were believed to have been issued with the support of the Governor, but had not yet been acted upon by the police.

Yesterday, Government House denied any involvement in issuing arrest warrants and the Bermuda Police Service said there was no truth in the rumour and declined to comment further.

PLP spokesman Glenn Blakeney yesterday accused Mr. Burgess of abusing Parliamentary privilege and claimed it was typical of the United Bermuda Party to use unsubstantiated rumours to attack the Government.

Mr. Burgess said yesterday: "I spoke during a debate which was about crime and lawlessness. And I said there were rumours abounding that arrest warrants were out for Members of Parliament. And they are believed to be bottlenecked either with the Governor or the Commissioner of Police.

"I would not have stood up in Parliament and said it if I hadn't heard it from sufficient sources to know that the rumour was widespread. Rumours like this are not good for the island and that's one of the downsides of living in a fishbowl.

"People need to see us getting these things out in the open to know that we are taking the issue of law and order seriously.

"Nothing would make me happier than for someone to get up in Parliament and say that we have a clean bill of health on this issue."

Mr. Burgess was halted by Speaker Stanley Lowe moments after he brought up the subject of the warrants.

"I was stopped by the Speaker, not because of what I was saying, but because my 20 minutes were up," said Mr. Burgess yesterday. "I didn't realise I was so close to the end of my time.

"The point I was trying to make was that these kinds of rumours don't bode well for Parliament and they don't bode well for Bermuda."

He added that Mr. Lowe had spoken to him afterwards and told him he would like to speak to him at a later time but did not tell him what about.

Efforts to contact Mr. Lowe yesterday were unsuccessful.

Deputy Governor Tim Gurney said yesterday: "There is no truth in any rumour that the Governor has specifically asked the Commissioner of Police to either investigate or arrest specific Government Ministers.

"It's not for the Governor to advise the Commissioner on the methodology of an investigation or to give operational advice.

"The Governor could expect the Commissioner to brief him when there are major developments in investigations, as he does normally. But the Governor would not give him direction.

"The Governor has not been involved in this process."

Mr. Blakeney said yesterday: "Trying to score political points through rumour-mongering shows how bereft of ideas the UBP have become. It is indicative of the UBP that they have used Parliamentary privilege to spread an unsubstantiated rumour in an attempt to make political gain.

"In Bermuda's small community, everybody knows that one negative rumour spreads ten times faster than does a positive truth. What basis would he (Mr. Burgess) have in fact to jump on the bandwagon?

"This goes to the heart of the matter of the integrity of the UBP's modus operandi."

The PLP spokesman added that if the rumours proved to be true, then Mr. Burgess had still behaved unacceptably with his comments.

"If this rumour turns out to be true, then the due process of the law is being pre-empted and that is not the role of Parliament," said Mr. Blakeney.

"I think every Member of Parliament understands quite clearly the consequences of the law and should they fall foul of the law, they should expect nothing less than the due process of the law to address their behaviour and their actions.

"Politicians should be very cognisant that the law will address the wrongdoing of anyone. Justice should be done and seen to be done."

Police have refrained from giving any information to the media about the BHC inquiry, which began last year after a special audit was carried out at the request of Premier Jennifer Smith by Auditor General Larry Dennis.

This followed allegations of corruption at the BHC made in the House of Assembly by Opposition MP Michael Dunkley and revelations of large payments to contractors made by this newspaper 11 months ago.

The Mid-Ocean News exclusively revealed last month that Raymonde Dill, the former general manager of the BHC, had been arrested and questioned by police, before being released on bail.

Two British police officers were brought in from Scotland Yard last September to give temporary help with the investigation.

Mr. Dill, along with two other BHC employees, was suspended on full pay, from March last year. He was then dismissed from his job as general manager in August.

In comments made to the Bermuda Sun last fall, Mr. Dill implicated former Housing Minister Nelson Bascome and Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown in the scandal.

Mr. Bascome did not respond to an invitation to comment and neither did the man who replaced him as Housing Minister, Senator David Burch. Efforts to contact Dr. Brown were also unsuccessful.