Shadow Housing Minister Michael Dunkley has accused Government of shifting blame for the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal onto contractors who were overpaid.

He was responding to news from Housing Minister Sen. David Burch that Government plans to sue contractors for the “substantial” amounts of money that have been overpaid.

A team of seven detectives is also involved in a complex fraud investigation at the housing agency.

Sen. Burch on Monday also outlined a series of new checks to eliminate the previous practice of verbal agreements with contractors, and revealed a number of contractors have been struck off the BHC approved list.

He said he was confident that BHC was now working “within its mandate” and that no further improprieties would be tolerated.

But Mr. Dunkley claims that Government had failed to take responsibility for the scandal which occurred when former Minister Nelson Bascome was in charge of housing.

He said Government had first of all dismissed all the corruption and mismanagement allegations when the United Bermuda Party (UBP) raised them in February and March.

It now appeared to have accepted them and taken action to put BHC on a sound financial and management footing.

But Mr. Dunkley said the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) should not be able to shift blame for the fiasco which occurred on its watch, under a board and key staff which it appointed.

“Government is trying to shift the blame away from the PLP to contractors, and let the Police take care of the rest,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“It is important to remember that this Government had a mandate to lead and to perform in housing and four years down the road, that performance has not been there.

“After the election, a lot of people left or were dismissed and were replaced by the PLP's appointees such as (sacked former general manager) Raymonde Dill.

“I am not saying everything was perfect before the election, but they were the Opposition then and they must have been asleep at the wheel if they didn't uncover any of these issues.

“Sen. Burch has said he's coming after you and BHC plan to sue contractors who were massively over-paid, but that begs many questions.

“The contractors didn't just go into the vaults and take the money, there must have been some agreement between the contractors and BHC.

“What's going to happen to the BHC people who perpetrated that? The Minister talks about verbal agreements and contracts, so how is he in a position to pursue those over-payments?

“We've been trying to say since February or March that there are real issues and we've outlined them over and over again and Government has denied them completely until recently, and now it has done a 360 degree turn and has now come out close to supporting 100 percent of our accusations.

“The Minister says BHC is now acting within its mandate, but when did it start acting outside its mandate and when was there this change of policy?

“For the Minister to say it is now working within its mandate, we are pleased, but how did it all get off the tracks?

“Even though we have uncovered all of these issues of alleged fraud and mismanagement, a lot of people are still looking for houses and have not been satisfied. So what is the plan?

“When you are in government you have to lead. It is alright taking the glory, but when things go wrong you also have to take the blame.”