The Opposition has labelled the 2007 Auditor General's report as a damning indictment of Finance Minister Paula Cox's management of the people's money.

United Bermuda Party Shadow Minister of Finance Bob Richards said it painted a disturbing picture of little real control being exercised over the management and whereabouts of tens-of-millions of dollars, creating conditions in which dishonesty and fraud can occur undetected.

The report reveals:

• $485 million in public spending is unaccounted for in the absence of financial statements from a range of Government entities.

• Nearly $50 million in taxes and pension payments from companies uncollected.

• Across-the-board failure among senior officers to provide 2007 audited financial statements and information in a timely manner.

• Nearly two thirds of Government entities failing to provide auditors with annual financial statements.

• Continuing Government business with companies guilty of failing to pay taxes and pensions despite an official policy against doing business with them.

• Half of 42 audits in 2007 receiving 'qualified' or 'denied' opinions because information deficiencies prevented auditors from rendering an opinion.

Mr. Richards said: "At the report's centre lies an undeniable failure of leadership, for which the Minister of Finance, now four years in the post, must be held responsible.

"One's attention is caught time and again by references to policies not implemented, recommendations not followed and tasks not completed.

"Clearly, no one is in charge, no one is demanding results. In the absence of leadership, the civil service appears to be adrift."

Mr. Richards said the Opposition was particularly disturbed that senior officers are not submitting financial information as required and that no one is holding them accountable.

He said some of the worst management failures are occurring under the Minister's direct control, in the Accountant General's Department, which did not issue audited financial statements for the Hospital Insurance Fund, the Government Employees Health Insurance Fund, the Contributory Pension Fund and the Public Service Superannuation Fund.

The latter two funds amount to the biggest pool of money in Bermuda outside of international business, well over a billion dollars, yet no one is in a position to say how that money is being managed, said Mr. Richards who added: "If the Accountant General's Department can't say, who can?

"The Government has not convinced anyone it is committed to ensuring the country adheres to the highest standards of financial integrity, and the failure of the minister to uphold them suggests she is not up to the job."

The UBP also urged Government to safeguard the independence of the Office of the Auditor General, in keeping with its own 1998 election pledge.