AS the Turks and Caicos sleaze scandal begins to attract worldwide attention – landing in the New York Post on Wednesday, headlined 'Trouble in Paradise' – Bermuda has again been name-checked during corruption hearings.

This time, Bermuda's links to Turks and Caicos were discussed during witness testimony of a meeting with TCI Premier Michael Misick, who is accused of abusing public funds.

Days after a mention of Bermuda's Cabinet Ministers' outside employment in previous testimony by his Deputy Premier, Mr. Misick is reported to have used the term 'Bermudian' as a byword for 'foreign non-belonger' in a controversial meeting.

During testimony last Friday, a Turks and Caicos landowner described an intimidating meeting with Mr. Misick, who is being investigated by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for allegedly squandering taxpayer money and offering tax breaks to a resort developer in return for a multi-million-dollar loan.

This landowner, TCI native Georgia Dunn, described to the Commission of Inquiry how Mr. Misick joined a meeting between her and this resort developer, looking to help convince her to sell her small portion of land at Salt Cay to make way for a resort.

Mrs. Dunn described how, when she offered to show Mr. Misick and his developer associate a slide show of historical Salt Cay to illustrate why it ought to be protected, the Premier accused her of being "Bermudian" – here a byword for a foreigner, describing settlers who arrived in Turks and Caicos from Bermuda in the 17th century to mine salt.

When Mrs. Dunn explained that, in fact, her family had been in Salt Cay since 1680, reinvesting proceeds from the salt into the local community, Mr. Misick is reported to have said: "That means you are Bermudian . . . well, I meet with the Prime Minister of Bermuda periodically.

"The last time I saw him, I told him that he owed us money for all the resources the Bermudians stole from us and brought back to Bermuda . . . you are one of those people that cut down our trees, stole our resources and shipped them back to Bermuda."

According to Mrs. Dunn's testimony, Mr. Misick went on to say: "The people of the Turks and Caicos Islands may not feel the same way about you and your family as you do about them."

Mr Misick's lawyer defended the Premier's use of the term "Bermudian" to characterise Mrs. Dunn as a non-belonger, saying it was simply the "trading of historical banter about Bermuda and Bermudans [sic] and about the fact that slave labour had been used".

Mrs. Dunn disagreed, saying: "It cuts to the core of saying this is not your home after you have been here for 300 years."

This testimony came during the second week of TCI corruption hearings, which could result in a criminal investigation depending on findings. The Commission of Inquiry, led by a Justice of Bermuda's own Court of Appeal, Sir Robin Auld QC, prompted Deputy Opposition Leader Trevor Moniz to call for a similar investigation into alleged corruption here in Bermuda.

"They're investigating political corruption in Turks and Caicos, and we should be looking in the same direction in Bermuda," Mr. Moniz told the Mid-Ocean News late last month. At the same time, Mr. Moniz called for the police, Auditor General and Director of Public Prosecutions to follow TCI's lead and fully investigate Bermuda's Government following recent questions regarding beneficial ownership of shares in the new court building project. Meanwhile, as the Turks and Caicos hearings continue, the international media reports that Mr. Misick is attempting to paint his own scandal as part of a Caribbean-wide epidemic of corruption.

"The prime minister last month said his government 'may have made mistakes', but he is confident no laws were broken," said the New York Post this week. 'Misick urged the commission to consider his finances in the context of the territory. Across the Caribbean, he said, politicians routinely receive personal donations of tens of thousands of dollars with no strings attached. But he does concede some excesses. Looking back, he said it would have more prudent not to keep two Gulf Stream jets on call. Misick said he now flies commercial'."