A claim that Bermuda College funds are being used for a St. Lucia resort stay by College President Dr. Charles Green and concern over a sponsor of a fundraising initiative by Premier?s wife Wanda Brown going into partnership with the Bermuda Hospitals Board proved contentious moments in a two hour adjournment debate in the House of Assembly on Friday.

When both matters were raised House Speaker quickly headed off any further discussion calling for a substantive motion to be laid before the House regarding the Bermuda College expenses issue and announcing that a ?mole? who leaked documents relating to Dr. Green?s expenditures was being hunted. The Bermuda College expenses row will appear as a debatable item once it is an official Public Accounts Committee matter.

The issue of Mrs. Brown?s fundraising efforts and one of the sponsors, Kurron Shares of America, this week being announced in a partnership with the BHB was snuffed out as a topic for debate until the Premier himself can be present to offer a reply.

On the PLP benches there were repeated words of support for the appointment of Rolfe Commissiong as the Premier?s new consultant on race relations following criticism from some quarters in recent days, in particular from UBP Senator Bob Richards

Opening the adjournment debate Minister for Community and Cultural Affairs sprang to the defence of Mr. Commissiong.

Mr. Perinchief said he was ?a very sensible choice for this position. I firmly believe Mr. Commissiong has been in some respects a trailblazer on the issue of the quandary of young black males?.

He said Mr. Commissiong ?having had his own challenges in his younger days, would know first hand of the challenges of young black males.? And he added: ?The Premier has chosen a worthwhile and worthy advocate.?

Opposition House Leader then started out in defence of the phrase ?the smell of corruption? as used by the Opposition in its reply to the Throne Speech.

He listed controversies including the BHC scandal ? for which only one person, Terrence Smith, was ever charged ? and the Berkeley Institute construction, which is currently the subject of what Mr. Barritt condemned as ?secret arbitration?.

And he called on Government to clear up the debate over Independence by letting the Island vote.was another PLP MP who defended Mr. Commissiong?s appointment as consultant on race relations noting his experience in the area, the fact that he is a well-read, and ?can lift up these black males.?

And referring to stories in involving leaked documents that show personal expenses accrued by Bermuda College President Dr. Charles Green, he claimed the information had been leaked by someone on the Public Accounts Committee.

House Speaker Mr. Lowe quickly interjected: ?I have met with the chairman of the committee and I?m satisfied this is not where the leak occurred. There is a mole and that mole will be found.?

Next to his feet was who took issue with the UBP?s reply to the Throne Speech using the phrase ?the smell of corruption? and did not accept Mr. Barritt?s comments.

He went to to say that Bermuda enjoys the most highly developed level of Government of the nine overseas territories and had learned through meetings of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council that other jurisdictions ?suffer the ignominy of having a Governor sit-in on cabinet meetings.?

He said such backward arrangements should not exist in 2006, nor should Governors be allowed to sit-in on Overseas Territories? leaders meetings with British Ministers.

And Mr. Scott expressed support for Mr. Commissiong?s race relations consultant posting. He said: ?We believe in restorative justice and this is the best example. We give second chances in life and I commend the appointment of Rolfe Commissiong to the chairmanship of this important endeavour.?

UBP MP views Government?s threat to boycott future OTCC summits unless Governors are barred from sitting-in on meetings as posturing and pointed out the Governor is part of the British Government and anything said in the meeting rooms would immediately be fed back to him anyway. He defended his colleague Mr. Barritt for offering justification over the inclusion of the word ?corruption? in the reply to the Throne Speech and mentioned a recent lengthy interview given by former Premier Alex Scott to the in which he warned of corruption and the exposure he had to it when he was in the top job.

?He said people come to you with corrupt deals and he had concerns about his successor. He was saying you have to be wary of people who buy into Government and has concern about gambling interests,? he said. Dr. Gibbons then referred to this week?s news that Kurran Shares of America has formed a partnership with Bermuda Hospitals Board three years after undertaking a $500,000 study of the hospital, and noted that Kurron was also one of the $10,000 ?Emerald? sponsors of the T.H.E. Foundation organisation run by Premier Ewart Brown?s wife Wanda Brown to help finance this year?s Bermuda Music Festival.

But before he could continue after being told by Speaker Mr. Lowe to desist as the Premier was not in the House to answer any questions on the subject. After Walter Lister criticised the direction of Dr. Gibbons speech, the former UBP leader replied: ?Our job is to raise concerns when we see it. The circumstantial evidence is strong.?

Dr. Gibbons moved on and referring to news from the OTCC meetings during the week that the UN Convention against Corruption is to be extended to cover other jurisdictions, such as Bermuda, and he was pleased to hear that.

He then moved to leaked documents that appear to show Bermuda College funds have been used for personal expenses of College President Dr. Green, and said: ?I?ve had a couple of calls from people in St. Lucia saying this fellow is down here. He apparently had a hotel room from the College and he moved into the Sandals resort with his wife.?

Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler called out: ?The College President??

Dr. Gibbons replied: ?Yes, the College President. And we want to know something about this.?

Speaker Mr. Lowe again intervened and said: ?With something like this there really should be a substantive motion. To carry on in that vein is really going over the top.?

With Dr. Gibbon?s allotted time to speak up PLP backbencher was next to speak. He said: ?The level of debate is getting lower and lower. It is an impunity on not just the Government but every single member of this chamber when we convey all of this rhetorical hearsay and alike.?

He called for Parliamentarians to be accountable to themselves in the language they use and views they express. He admitted the Government had not got everything right, but said: ?we need constructive criticism not venomous criticism?.

Shadow Finance Minister said: ?When we bring forward situations that have come to our attention, to the attention of the Government, to the extent that the observations are unpleasant we are always going to be accused of being venomous. When I hear members of this House criticise the messenger as opposed to try to rectify the problem one has to wonder why would you try to defend the indefensible.? She said Government should want to know if someone is doing something wrong.

And she stated the integrity of the Public Accounts Committee was paramount with regard to any suggestion that it was the source of any leaked documents regarding Bermuda College accounts.

In a brief interjection Labour Minister added his support for race relations consultant Rolfe Commissiong.

Backbencher noted that other countries had ?gloried? in their respective leaders being at the OTCC sessions in London with front page news but said this had not been the case in Bermuda, a statement at odds with the fact that the previous day Premier Dr. Brown had been the main front page story as he announced his intention to boycott future OTCC summits over the Governor issue.

Mr. Lister then said: ?I?m pleased with the progress the Premier has made in London. Our Premier does not buck or bend. This is a new type of Premier for Britain to deal with.?

UBP called on Government to make its intentions clear on the issue of Independence, and said the people should be allowed to decide so that everything could then move on. And to the PLP MPs who criticised the press for criticising them, he said that criticism quite often had a lot of merit and should be listened to rather than always fighting back or trying to get a discussion ?shut up?.

When Walter Lister said he never complained about the but about the fact that Bermuda only had one daily newspaper and he felt it was a UBP-supporting journal, Mr. Dunkley responded: ?I remember the new Premier was in the newspaper just about every day in the weeks before the Party election. I?ve not heard anyone stand up and say that was favourable coverage.?

He then asked if the Workers? Voice ever wrote favourable things about the UBP, adding: ?If they want to interview me they can call me, my number?s in the book.

?I remember they (PLP) complained that ZBM was a tool of the UBP. The media gives good reporting more often than not. It does not take any leadership skills to criticise the media.?

Next to speak was backbencher who called on young people who don?t go out to work to change their attitude and said it could not be right that some of Bermuda?s young people don?t work full days because they have a ?spliff? for their lunch.

Mr. Lister said that every time a Bermudian decided to sit down and not work a fellow Bermudian loses the opportunity of a home because an employer has to bring in an overseas worker to fill the job and that person then takes up accommodation.

He was not happy with the UBP?s use of the term ?corruption? in relation to Government and countered that he had seen documents many years ago relating to past UBP administrations that raised questions about the awarding of Government contracts.

He added: ?The vast majority on both sides come to this place every week and work their butts off and they do not have a contract, or a ?sweet tooth? or get something pushed to them under the table.

?I have faith in all 36 people in the House?, he added, and asked if Bermuda had a corrupt Government then why has it never made the world-wide corruption list of countries.