Government was last night accused of using the Police investigation into Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) as an excuse for not moving now to correct problems at the organisation.

Auditor General Larry Dennis decided last week not to publish his report into BHC because it may prejudice criminal trials that may emerge from his investigation into allegations of corruption, mismanagement and overpayments to some contractors.

In his letter to Speaker of the House of Assembly Stanley Lowe, Mr. Dennis said he has passed the report to Premier Jennifer Smith, Health Minister Nelson Bascome, and the chair of BHC “so that corrective action can be commenced immediately”.

But the Premier said in the House on Friday she had returned the report to Mr. Dennis, said United Bermuda Party leader Dr Grant Gibbons.

Dr. Gibbons accused the Premier and Mr. Bascome of hiding behind the Police investigation and Mr. Dennis's report to do nothing about the problems at BHC.

And he repeated his call, made in the House on Friday, for Mr. Bascome to resign because he has responsibility for the scandal at BHC.

In his letter to Mr. Lowe, Mr. Dennis said the Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo had offered this advice: “Given the fact that the matter has been referred to the Police and is the subject of an active criminal investigation, there is a very real risk that public release or debate on it in the House of Assembly, in advance of any criminal proceedings, will be prejudicial and prevent a fair trial or trials.

‘With the magnitude of publicity that has preceded your report, your findings will undoubtedly exacerbate public interest, opinion and discussion.'

Dr. Gibbons said yesterday: “The Premier said in the House she sent her report back to Larry Dennis, which flies in the face of the Auditor General's comment in his last paragraph where he calls for ‘corrective action to be commenced immediately'.

“Whether it be Nelson Bascome or the Premier, they need to tell the community or the House what they are doing in the form of corrective action and it is not sufficient to stand behind the curtain of a potential criminal prosecution.

“Based on the debate in the House on Friday, Nelson Bascome doesn't seem to understand that his responsibility for BHC didn't start when he and the Premier asked the Auditor General to look at allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

“His responsibility started when he was made Minister with responsibility for housing because that was a major plank in the PLP platform.

“The Housing Act makes it very clear that the Minister has the responsibility to appoint all the members of the board and the chair, and he also must approve of the general manager, as well as approving the terms and conditions of his appointment.

“The Minister also has lots of channels of communication into the Housing Corporation through ex-officio representatives and also through Works and Engineering.

“If he didn't know what was going on he wasn't doing his job as Minister. And if he did, he didn't do much about it until the Opposition and the media drew it to his attention.

“It is either gross negligence or mismanagement of a very important part of his portfolio. He has betrayed the trust of the tax-payer who has invested considerable funds into BHC and those in the community who need a properly administered Housing Corporation to provide affordable housing.

“We hold him entirely accountable and that is why he should do the right thing and resign. It is not sufficient for him to keep it at arms' length on the pretext that it is now up to the Auditor General or the Police to deal with it.”

In the House on Friday, Mr. Bascome said he did take responsibility but the Police had to be allowed to do their job and bring prosecutions if need be.

And he said the UBP was guilty of a “rush to justice” over the issue.