Claims of a cock-up could lead to a major debate on damning reports of Government accounting being pulled from MPs schedules.

Last night Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons insisted Government broke the rules on debates on reports on the official Auditor by bypassing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) -- which should examine the documents before MPs get a chance to discuss them.

Dr. Gibbons, chairman of the PAC said: "I believe the PLP are usurping the Public Accounts Committee and contravening the rules of the House.'' And it is understood he has now written to Speaker of the House Stanley Lowe, asking for a ruling on the matter.

Backbench Progressive Labour Party MP Ottiwell Simmons gave notice on April 30 of a take note motion on the 95/96 and 96/97 reports by Auditor Larry Dennis -- which has now sat on the order paper for weeks.

Dr. Gibbons said: "The PLP should know what they're doing and they should be familiar with the rules of the House as the Opposition.

"It's clear Mr. Simmons was either not aware or didn't educate himself as to the proper rules of the House. The real gist of it is that there is no point in having a Public Accounts Committee, which is quite an important committee in the use of public funds, if they're not going to follow its procedures.'' The two latest Auditor's reports were tabled earlier this year, with Mr.

Simmons' motion being tabled shortly afterwards.

Dr. Gibbons added: "Mr. Simmons' motion went down very quickly after the Auditor's reports were tabled in the House. There were three or four sessions where it could have been taken up, but wasn't.

"And it's certainly not as though he is being prevented from taking it up -- but there is a natural course for the House to take and that's after a Public Accounts Committee report.'' According to the Rules of the House, the PAC should be a standing committee of five MPs and has the duty of "examining, considering and reporting on'' the report of the Auditor and other financial matters.

Other rules stipulate the Finance Minister must give a response to any PAC report before MPs get their teeth into them.

But last night Mr. Simmons was staying tight-lipped over the reasons for the delay in debating the latest Auditor's reports.

He added: "We will see what happens with that -- we will see how it goes. I will be talking about it to the Whip.'' Both Auditor's reports catalogued the mishandling of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money.

And Mr. Dennis said hundreds of thousands of dollars were wasted due to sloppy management.

More than a quarter of a billion dollars in Government pension and insurance funds has not been properly accounted for.

And in excess of $325,000 was squandered by the Bermuda Hospitals Board because of bad accounting procedures.