Bermuda is fighting back against the bad press it has received following the collapse of Enron, with Finance Minister Eugene Cox leading the battle cry.

Numerous international news reports, including a Reuters story, a Wall Street Journal editorial and reports on the BBC World Service have cast a shadow over the business affairs on the Island and there have been implications that it is "dodgy" and used by less than reputable companies to hide their shady accounting practices.

Last night, Mr. Cox hit back at the Island's critics and reminded them that the companies in question were regulated by the New York Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Following the collapse of energy giant Enron Corp. in the United States, there has been a tremendous amount of market and media interest in the accounting practices of other large, listed multinationals," Mr. Cox told The Royal Gazette last night.

"Amongst numerous companies caught up in this process there has been at least one prominent Bermuda-registered company. In this environment, some have, quite wrongly, sought to suggest the existence of a linkage between Bermuda and irregular, or less than transparent, accounting methods."

The Minister went on to say that Bermuda followed generally accepted accounting practices and complied with international standards.

And he pointed to the companies in question being listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange which is heavily regulated.

And he said any generally accepted changes as a result of the Enron collapse would be followed by Bermuda.

He said: "As a long-standing and significant international financial centre, Bermuda has always followed generally accepted accounting practices and international standards.

"It may well be that in the wake of the perceived inadequacies highlighted by recent developments certain of these accounting practices and standards will be amended. Should this come about, the financial world, including Bermuda, will respond accordingly."

David Ezekiel, head of the International Division of the Chamber of Commerce said yesterday that some of the bad press could rub off on the Island's image.

"Every time somebody throws something some muck will stick, and perception becomes reality, but I don't think there is anything we can do," he said.

"When you look very closely at the owners of privately owned companies, as Bermuda does, and then you look closely at public companies that are listed on the stock exchange, I do not think there is much more you can do. I do not think that as a result of this Bermuda should spend a lot of time on this. That is not to say that the articles like the Reuters one will not make people perceive Bermuda in a certain way." And he pointed out that the SEC was the regulator of companies such as Enron, Global Crossing, Tyco and Elan Corp. He recalled the collapse of Cendant as an example of problems of US regulations when it came to accounting practices.

He said: "With Cendant there was exactly the same thing. Somebody made up some figures, wrote them down on the back on an envelope and no one said junk in the US.

"This (Enron) was not caught by the auditors and this could happen anywhere. It would be different if the accounts were done in Bermuda or if the financials were filed here."

Bermuda International Business Association declined to comment on Bermuda's bad press, with Richard Calderon, the new CEO of BIBA stating there would be a meeting with the executive of the organisation and their PR people from both the UK and the US today to discuss what they should say.

When asked for a comment yesterday he said: "Of course we are a great jurisdiction and we want to get that across, but do we respond to every article that is written in international press?"

When it was pointed out that it was more than one article he said: "I take your point. We are taking it very seriously..."