The Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) is concerned about what they say is political interference into the editing of a recording of a House of Assembly session two years ago.

The edited section contained a "politically sensitive" private conversation that took place in the House of Assembly, according to Corey Butterfield, the Progressive Labour Party's (PLP) public relations officer at the time.

Mr. Butterfield, interviewed by ZBM News, said that while he attended a meeting at the Telecommunications Department and heard the conversation between two ruling party parliamentarians, he was not party to any request that it be edited.

Telecommunications Director Gregory Swan told ZBM that his department routinely edits out conversation that is not part of official House business and the conversation had taken place before the start of the sitting. Pressed by ZBM, Mr. Butterfield described the conversation as "inappropriate" and "best left to the basement bathroom of a bar-room", adding: "It was a very cavalier discussion about a very intimate Valentine's night encounter."

VSB News said that the conversation was between PLP backbenchers Wayne Perinchief and Stanley Morton.

The matter was brought to light by a letter written anonymously to the Public Service Commission (PSC) complaining about "the possible unlawful conduct of Mr. Greg Swan, the director of Telecommunications". The PSC is responsible for the discipline, hiring and firing of civil servants. "It is this author's belief that the House of Assembly's `February 16 2001 officially tape recorded sessions' has been replaced with a copy following modification," the letter continues.

"This claim is made based on the fact that on Saturday, February 17, 2001 Mr. Greg Swan met with two senior representative of the PLP (the current Government political party) in his office.

"At this meeting Mr. Swan discussed and agreed to the `altering' of the official House of Assembly tape `the recording of it, onto a new tape' for placement into the Government archives; minus the embarrassing information that some senior cabinet members were concerned about. I hope you find this helpful."

"Our stance is that it's not about what was said - we are very concerned about the appearance of political interference with what is basically a public broadcast," said the UBP's Jamahl Simmons. "What goes on in the house is the business of the House.

"Unfortunately, (the UBP's) Michael Dunkley was penalised for something that was said after the gavel had fallen so a precedence had been set that you are accountable for what was said... the real issue is that an official from the PLP, the PR officer could go and get these things expunged."

While acknowledging that the tape was edited, it was not at the request of PLP officials, Mr. Swan said. His department, he explained, was responsible for recording only the official record of the House.

But the UBP is wondering why a meeting took place between Mr. Butterfield, an MP and Mr. Swan at the Telecommunications department, the day after the conversation took place.

"The director of Telecommunications made a statement that what he did was common practice," said Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons.

"However, if it is indeed common practice, then it begs the question of why was an emergency meeting held on a Saturday morning outside of normal business hours to discuss the alteration of the tape and according to the electronic media that meeting was with the Director of Telecommunications, Corey Butterfield and Wayne Perinchief."

Besides, he added, the incident highlights the need to clarify procedures to protect public records of the House from being tampered with.

"It's all news to me," said Mr. Perinchief. He told The Royal Gazette last night he does not recall attending any such meeting and questioned why the conversation would be of interest if it took place outside of the official House sitting.

Mr. Morton could not be reached by press-time.

"Our concern is not the nature of what was a personal conversation between Mr. Perinchief and Morton," continued Dr. Gibbons. "It really revolves more around the issue of altering a tape which is a public record of the House of Assembly.

"For example there are obvious questions like who makes the decision about when a tape should be edited and what should be edited. Also if the instruction to alter the tape in this case came from the Progressive Labour Party or a cabinet minister then we have a situation where a senior civil servant has potentially been compromised."

He added that the letter writer's allegations "have the potential to be quite serious and also a breach of public trust. But at this point I don't think all the facts are known and I suspect there's more to this than meets the eye".

And Dr. Gibbons said that the PSC, as well as the Speaker of the House should look into the matter. The UBP has requested a copy of the tape to see what it contains, said Dr. Gibbons. "We have no clear sense of when the recording began or what portion of the tape was altered or removed.

"There are clearly issues here and history is full of them in other countries where public records have been altered or tampered with."

Requests for copies of House recordings normally have to be cleared by the Telecommunications Minister, a "ridiculous" procedure, said Dr. Gibbons, adding: "There should be no reason why a public record shouldn't be provided to anybody who asks."