Auditor General Larry Dennis has renewed his calls for legislation to protect those who blow the whistle on fraudsters.

Mr. Dennis has recommended progress on this front in two previous reports. In 2004, he presented survey results from the United Kingdom that showed many frauds come to light as the result of employee whistle blowing. Many discovered by other means were known about by co-workers who were afraid to blow the whistle lest doing so should invite reprisals.

In March, former BHC employee Terrence Smith was convicted of defrauding the Corporation to the tune of $1.2 million. Mr. Dennis stated in his report that early notification to his office of this suspected fraud within the BHC meant that the audit environment was not compromised when the matter later hit the headlines. The case prompted calls by the Opposition for the Government to stop dragging its heels over implementing the Auditor General?s recommendations. Responding to these calls, Attorney General Larry Mussenden told that further cross-Ministry work was needed before a decision on enacting whistleblower legislation.

In his report tabled in the House on Friday, Mr. Dennis said: ?In 2004 I recommended the enactment of whistleblower protection legislation together with practices that demonstrate to all that reported malpractices are investigated without fear or favour, that whistleblowers are protected, and that perpetrators of fraud are dealt with firmly. Reaction to my recommendations has been less than enthusiastic. However, I remain convinced that both recommendations would, if implemented, help detect and prevent fraud and misappropriations.?

He said that, in the circumstances, he had consigned his recommendations to a list of those that have either been rejected, or accepted but not yet implemented. He added that while the recently-passed Ombudsman Act provided for redress for whistleblowers through the Human Rights Act , his original recommendation for an independent Whistleblowers Act still applied. ?I hope that in future the Ministry of Finance will reconsider the merits of these recommendations,? he said.

Speaking after his report was made public, Mr. Dennis also leant his support to those who have called for additional new laws to combat corruption. Consultant to the Department of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser who prosecuted Smith over the BHC fraud said that others might also have been charged over the scandal if Bermuda had more modern anti-corruption legislation of the type found in most Western countries.

His comments ? made in 2004 ? were echoed by the Police and later by Mr. Dennis. Although Premier Alex Scott pledged to update the 100-year-old laws relevant to the BHC saga Mr. Ratneser said at the conclusion of the Smith trial that nothing has happened to change the law in the interim period.

The Government rejected anti-corruption legislation during a debate in Parliament last year, but Mr. Dennis told on Friday: ?Some of the other countries have very advanced new law, and Bermuda would do well to look into that.?