Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to Minister of Finance Eugene Cox.

Mr. Cox yesterday told The Royal Gazette that there was no hidden agenda in not publishing the annexe or its contents.

He added that he staked his Ministerial career on the facts he told in the House of Assembly on Friday, and said his statement listed clearly and in detail what was in the document.

And he said the much talked about annexe, which has not been made public, is only "several pages'' long and, in fact, was beneficial to Bermuda. "There is no hidden agenda,'' said Mr. Cox.

He added that if he misled the House of Assembly on the contents of the annexe, it would be his duty to resign.

Speaking about his detractors, Mr. Cox said: "I think the problem comes because we have not had to move as much as some countries, and what they haven't grasped is that we do not have that much to do and we are given plenty of time for the changes.

"By 2003, there will have been another election and who is going to go into an election with an agenda which is selling the Country out?'' Last Friday, Mr. Cox was scheduled to reveal the contents of the annexe, which was an addendum to a document signed by many countries wishing to stay off a damaging list of tax havens published last month by the OECD.

Mr. Cox was widely criticised for not releasing the annexe and members of the business community expressed concern that all the details had not been revealed.

But yesterday Mr. Cox said that instead of signing away Bermuda's rights, the annexe in fact guaranteed more freedom to the Island than just signing up to the document.

He said about the document: "It is certainly not hundreds of pages. It is not even 20 pages, but several pages long.'' He added: "I have given a lot of the detail.'' Mr. Cox said: "The annexe was a qualifying document for the letter, and it staked out our claims. We are not using it to trick people. It is the Government's commitment to the community and what we talked about on Friday was this and spelt out what is in the annexe.'' But he avoided the question of if the Government was going to release the annexe for public scrutiny.

On Friday, Mr. Cox revealed the annexe said international business would be allowed to compete on a more level playing field with local business.

Eugene Cox