By Ahmed ElAmin A war of words which broke out in the Senate on Wednesday, underlines some of the political fallout reverberating around the Island over the failure of the Co-Op Supermarket.

Now UBP Senator E.T. (Bob) Richards said he is going to demand an apology from PLP Senator Terry Lister for calling him "stupid'' during the debate for investing in the Co-Op.

According to Sen. Richards, Sen. Lister then went on to state that anybody who would take investment advice from him would also be "stupid''.

Sen. Richards, who heads investment advisory firm Invesco Global Asset Management Ltd., sparked off the heated debate by linking the failure of the Co-Op with the ability of the PLP to run Government if elected. "If the PLP can't run a supermarket, how can you expect them to run a country?'' he repeated in an interview yesterday.

PLP Chairman Victor Fishington is president of the Bermuda Workers Cooperative Society, the organisation that owned and operated the supermarket.

Sen. Richards also revealed that members of the cooperative society had been asked to fork over $1200 each to pay off debts of $1.4 million owed to creditors when the supermarket collapsed. See related story below .

Sen. Richards said he put $20 into the Co-Op about 15 years ago as a show of support.

"I'm demanding an apology at the next Senate meeting,'' he said in an interview. "It was most unparliamentary of him to make such comments.'' He went on to state that the board of directors of the Co-Op still had much to answer for regarding their oversight of the supermarket's operations.

He said that as a shareholder he had never seen any audited financial statements since at least 1994 nor had any annual general meeting been called to discuss operations.

"Where is the money?'' he said. "How about the employees and other shareholders? They have forgotten about me until they want money. The issue is a larger one of the financial mismanagement and accountability of the management. They have to be held accountable.''