Housing Minister Senator David Burch yesterday said he hoped the Police investigation into the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) would be completed soon so suspects could be dealt with and the innocent vindicated.

At a press conference to dispel criticism and claims about housing put out by the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP), Sen. Burch was asked whether he felt frustrated about rumours that arrest warrants had been issued for some of Government colleagues in connection with the BHC fiasco.

But he said he could only wait for the investigation to come to a natural conclusion, and said if any member of Government intervened or spoke publicly at length about the case, it may jeopardise the inquiry and any court proceedings that followed.

"I have no control over the Police," said Sen. Burch.

"I certainly ask and have had some contact with them as a result of the request that they made of the housing corporation and I encourage the Commissioner to conclude the investigation as soon as he can.

"I cannot exert any pressure on him, as much as I would like to, because I would like to see the matter resolved."

The Housing Minister said he wanted to see the inquiry brought to an end soon, not only so those that have been maligned, including his colleagues and those in the community, can be cleared, but also so that the guilty can be brought to justice.

The BHC scandal broke a year ago after it was alleged that tradesmen who had been awarded contracts for the Government quango had been massively overpaid for work done.

But the claims led to a raft of other claims, leading to Auditor General Larry Dennis being called in and his file then handed to Police.

A number of people have since been arrested in connection with the inquiry, and two weeks' ago, Opposition Whip Maxwell Burgess told Parliament that he had heard rumours that arrest warrants had been issued for a number of Government MPs.

The Police have not commented on the issue, and Government slammed Mr. Burgess for repeating unsubstantiated rumours.

But Sen. Burch said yesterday that not all people suspected of playing a dubious role in the BHC fiasco may be dealt with by the courts.

He said Government would not spend $1.50 to retrieve $1, and said in some cases there may not be enough evidence to take to court.

But he said a number of suspect contractors had already been placed on a blacklist and may not be given the opportunity to do work for BHC again.

He added: "There will be some cases where we will probably go no further than us coming to an arrangement where they reimburse us."

But the main reason for the press conference was to hit back at claims that Government was participating in a BHC cover-up, that funds to the corporation had steadily increased under Government's tenure, and that the Government was putting people on the streets by carrying out evictions.

He said: "Cover up? Who sent the Auditor General to investigate the BHC following the allegations by the Opposition critic? Following that report, who appointed a Minister of Housing to specifically address the concern? The Progressive Labour Party.

"I fail to see how anyone can legitimately continue to accuse the Government of this, when, as Minister, I have repeatedly stated that I would do nothing to compromise the criminal investigation."

Sen. Burch said people with BHC arrears had been given every opportunity to pay towards their debt, and only the most serious, no-hope cases were being evicted.

He said Government had to plough so much money into BHC because so many arrears had developed over a number of years.

"To be clear, we have a total of 897 clients - 410 in arrears - 390 who we are working with and a grand total of 20 clients being evicted."