Government has been charged with slipping through "significant'' changes to Bermuda's exchange controls while Parliament was recessed for Easter.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority sent banks and law firms a notice last Friday "without any fanfare and no advance notice'' to the political parties, the Progressive Labour Party said this week in a news release.

"This certainly is not the way that the financial business of this Country should be handled,'' the statement said.

The PLP also took exception to the changes themselves.

The banks had been delegated authority to approve purchase of foreign real estate to any amount, the party said. This would cut the amount of money available locally for mortgages and investment.

And Bermudians would be able to sell luxury properties to foreigners and deposit the proceeds in foreign bank accounts, meaning the money would never come to Bermuda.

Thirdly, income from foreign currency earnings could be kept in foreign accounts, as could legacies and gifts. This would undermine investment income as the "third leg'' of the Bermudian economy, as Finance Minister the Hon.

David Saul had predicted it would become.

And the household foreign investment limit of $50,000 had effectively been lifted for households larger than two people, the PLP said.

The party believed the way the changes were introduced indicated the United Bermuda Party was "prepared to act in a manner detrimental to the Bermudian people.'' It also reflected "the brand of Independence that we would have'' under a UBP Government, the PLP said.