The United Bermuda Party (UBP) has again called for a long-awaited Government report - ordered almost three years ago - on asbestos removals to be made public.

The UBP accused Health Minister Nelson Bascome of “trying to re-write history and sweep it under the carpet” over the minister's claim yesterday that he has already fully answered all questions about the way PLP MP Arthur Pitcher demolished asbestos ridden buildings in St. Davids in 2000.

Mr. Bascome ordered the report in July 2000 after St. David's residents claimed Mr. Pitcher's workers removed asbestos without masks and that the toxic substance was taken away in open trucks leading to them being exposed to it.

The Royal Gazette revealed at the time that Mr. Pitcher's company flouted planning rules by not getting a permit prior to beginning the removal of the asbestos when he was building 20 Bermuda Housing Corporation homes in Texas Road.

The report ordered by Mr. Bascome was to look at all aspects of asbestos on the Island, but he promised it would also deal specifically with whether the law had been broken by Mr. Pitcher's company.

The Minister told the House of Assembly in July 2000 that while he had ordered his staff to develop a clear asbestos policy: “I have also asked them to investigate fully whether the law was violated in this (Pitcher) case and by whom, and if so what action should be taken to ensure there is no repetition.”

Shadow Environment spokesman Jamahl Simmons called for the report to be made public to allay “the public's perception that corruption exists within the PLP Government”.

Mr. Bascome said on Wednesday night he hoped the report would be released soon, but Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann was still working on it.

Mr. Bascome told The Royal Gazette yesterday he had already dealt fully with the Pitcher incident in answers to questions from former shadow Environment minister Kim Young in Parliament around 2001. And he said he did not know if the comprehensive asbestos report, when it is finally released, will deal with the Pitcher case, because he had not seen it. But last night Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley flatly rejected Mr. Bascome's claim that the Pitcher issue had been dealt with.

“Kim Young asked him questions, and he answered some, and when she asked him some more he said, ‘I'm going to do a whole report, not just there (Mr. Pitcher's Southside site) but Island wide, and he promised the report and he has never delivered,” said Mr. Dunkley.

“To say he has answered them is trying to re-write history and just trying to sweep it under the carpet. It just hasn't happened. My colleagues and I continue to ask for the report and he continues to duck the issue and now he is trying to make us believe that something else has happened.”

The Royal Gazette was unable to get the answers Mr. Bascome gave to Mrs. Young on the Pitcher incident from the House of Assembly yesterday. And Mr. Bascome said yesterday he had been unable to talk to his staff to get the answers. Mrs. Young was off the Island, but yesterday the UBP said it was mystified to hear Mr. Bascome's claims he had fully dealt with the Pitcher issue in information given to Mrs. Young.

Shadow Environment Minister Mr. Simmons said: “We've been asking around and none of us can recall this. We've been calling for the report on the Pitcher case as late as this Budget debate (in February) so this is a new one to all of us.”

When asked if his answers to Mrs. Young disclosed whether the law had been broken in Mr. Pitcher's case, Mr. Bascome said: “I can't remember. I remember the report was dealing with the mastic in the tiles being less than two percent.”

In June last year, Mr. Bascome said the full report would be tabled before the House of Assembly session ended last August, but this did not happen.

When asked on Wednesday when the report will be made public, he said: “I've talked to the Chief Medical Officer and he says he is putting the final touches to it and we should have it ready for... I wanted the report over a year ago.

“The Chief Medical Officer has been working on the report and tells me he is to get it ready as soon as possible. He has put it as a priority. It will be a report for the whole Island.”

When asked if details of Mr. Pitcher's case will be included in the final comprehensive asbestos report, he said: “I can't say its going to have Pitcher specifically.

“There have been numerous instances where we've had to have Environmental Health go in and deal with (asbestos). If he (the Health Department technical officer) is going to have the names of all people including the Opposition member's husband, I don't know. I can't say if he has dealt with Pitcher specifically because I haven't seen the report.”

Mr. Simmons accused Government of “dragging its feet” over the Pitcher case. “The continuing evasion and delays on the release of this report only heighten the public's perception that corruption exists within the PLP Government,” he said. “St. David's Islanders and the employees involved in the removal of asbestos from the site on Texas Road deserve some answers. Tell us Mr. Bascome, ‘What really happened on that site? Was the health of the people put at risk?',” Mr. Simmons continued.

“In July 15 2002, the Minister gave the people of this country his word that the report into asbestos on Mr. Pitcher's site would not be ‘buried or minimised'.

“The people of St. David's, the employees exposed to asbestos, and Bermudians in general, deserve answers for the Government, not foot-dragging, stall tactics and delays.”