Housing Minister David Burch yesterday called for a "full and unequivocal apology" from a newspaper which claimed it had fresh evidence to show that Bermuda Housing Corporation money was used to partly-pay for the construction of Premier Ewart Brown's home.

The Minister told a press conference that last Friday's Mid-Ocean News story contained about eight allegations which were "pure fabrication and complete lies".

The article said freshly leaked financial papers, including bank statements and copies of cheques, showed that BHC paid $400,000 to Bermuda Composite Construction (BCC) after the Premier refused to pay the same company for cost overruns of a similar amount on his mansion at AP Owen Road, Smith's.

Lt. Col. Burch said an assumption in the story that a payment of $229,000 in October 2002 to BCC one of whose directors was PLPelection candidate Zane DeSilva from BHC was a final payment for 20 low cost housing units at Southside was false.

"As such it is clear that a false assumption has been made that the payments totalling $400,000 were to cover the cost of the Premier's house, which was over budget by $400,000 this also is untrue," he said.

"You will readily see that this transaction has absolutely nothing to do with the Premier, Zane DeSilva or the building of his (Dr. Brown's) house."

The Minister said that at the end of 2002, BHC's management team was put on leave and an interim team was put in place, leading to a review of all projects ordered. Lt. Col. Burch said consultants reviewed Southside and concluded that BCCwas owed at least $400,000 and that BHC should try to settle pending completion of the units.

He said BHC's new board and management agreed on October 1, 2003 to pay two installments of $200,000 and that the Auditor General found the payments to be "entirely appropriate".

Lt. Col. Burch criticised the duplication of a BHC cheque in the Mid-Ocean, The Royal Gazette's sister paper, which he said increased the risk of fraud to the publicly funded quango and said the new board and management's integrity had been questioned.The Minister said he had received advice on behalf of BHC about seeking legal redress through the courts from the Mid-Ocean News and its owners Bermuda Press Holdings Ltd, but did not make clear what course of action would be pursued.

Claims of corruption at BHC believed to have cost taxpayers $8 million were investigated for two years by Police but only one person was ever charged.

Terrence Smith, a BHC officer, was found guilty and jailed last year on 41 counts of fraud but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal last month and he is now waiting a retrial.