Claims that the special audit on the new secondary school site was a first for the Auditor General have been strenuously denied.

Auditor Larry Dennis said claims by the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) that during the 30 plus years of the "reign of terror and error" under the United Bermuda Party (UBP) Government, numerous projects were carried out and not subjected to audits was simply not true.

The BIU claimed in its statement on Monday that Westgate prison, CedarBridge Academy, Tynes Bay Incinerator and National Stadium had never undergone a special audit.

The BIU said: "Yet, for the first time in the history of Bermuda, the Auditor General has chosen to perform a management control systems audit on a major capital project."

But Mr. Dennis said he issued a special report on Westgate in 1995, when he brought to the public's attention the fact that the UBP had bailed contractors Sealand Construction out to the tune of $2 million.

And he said two such reports were carried out on the CedarBridge project.

He said: "Management control systems (MCS) audits are specifically chosen because of presumed problems and the likelihood of finding reportable items. If, during the initial discovery phase, however, we conclude that the likelihood of finding reportable items is remote, we discontinue the audit and direct our resources elsewhere.

"This happened twice in respect to CedarBridge Academy - midway through the project and at the end of the project."

However, in his 1998 annual report he recorded that "CedarBridge Academy... exceeded amounts budgeted by $11.3 million. Coding misclassifications, some of which were not corrected, caused some of these overruns.

"These miscodings distort the the reported figures, and show that the project was managed without the Ministries involved exercising adequate budgetary control."

Mr. Dennis said he remembered being pleasantly surprised that CedarBridge was devoid of major problems, notwithstanding the $11.3 million, which had all been properly authorised and approved.

And he said, consistent with his practice, he only reported those matters that he felt were significant.

Expenditures for Tynes Bay Incinerator were budgeted over the years 1982 and 1997/98, but the auditor said his mandate to carry out MCS audits only became operative in 1991, by which time $25 million had already been spent.

Mr. Dennis said: "As soon as I was able to divert my office's resources away from financial audits to MCS audits, I did.

"My first MCS audits were undertaken in 1995, by which time $66 million of an eventual $74 million had been spent on Tynes Bay. Accordingly, most of the reasons for conducting a MCS audit had already transpired. Further, I doubted that I could shed much more light on the problems with the project that had not already been discussed publicly.

"I therefore determined that my resources could more effectively be employed somewhere else."

And the Auditor General said on November 19, 2001, the Ministry of Finance asked him to carry out an MCS of the National Stadium. A report was submitted in June of this year.

He said records to March 2002 indicated that about $5 million was spent on the stadium during the UBP reign, and $23 million since November 9, 1998, when the Progressive Labour Party took over.

And he said, overall, he concluded that the administration of the stadium project to date had been good and within parameters imposed.

Mr. Dennis concluded: "My decision to perform a management control systems audit of the Berkeley project was not rare."

Mr. Dennis said when he completed his report on Westgate, he brought up the issue of performance bonds, as one had not been place for that project. Instead of a bond, on awarding of the contract, the price paid by Government was reduced by $500,000, in lieu of the insurance.

In his report, he recommended the matter be given greater consideration, as contractors claimed it was just about impossible to obtain bonds in Bermuda, but he urged that alternatives be used instead to safeguard the project.

At the time he said: "The policy may need revision, but some bond or insurance should be obtained on large projects in order to provide adequate protection of public assets."