Governor Sir Richard Gozney, yesterday, urged anyone with evidence of criminality in relation to the over-budget TCD construction project to come forward.

But his comments sparked criticism from Premier Ewart Brown, whose Transport Ministry took responsibility for the development and who has been accused of Ministerial interference by the Auditor General.

Dr. Brown said he wished the Governor had waited until MPs debated the issue before "implying that criminal conduct may have occurred".

Sir Richard spoke out in response to Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews's special report on the new TCD building and three emissions testing centres.

The Governor said her findings — which revealed that the final cost of the development was three times the initial $5.3 million estimate due to a disregard for normal financial controls — "speaks for itself".

He confirmed last night that Police are not investigating the matter but would do if anyone came forward with information warranting an inquiry.

"If anyone, inside or outside of Government, has evidence to substantiate allegations of criminality, I urge that person to give it, as soon as possible, to the Auditor General or to the Police," he said.

"The Police would not hesitate to investigate such evidence and, if upheld, to put forward a case for prosecution."

Sir Richard said he supported the Auditor General's decision to put the story of the TCD project "in full, and publicly, to the Legislature".

"I shall be interested to see how Bermuda's Legislature receives the report and to hear what recommendations the parliamentarians may make."

He said Government House would usually play no part in the delegated matter of road transport policy "but poor governance and poor accountability of large sums of public funds become issues for the Governor and the whole Island".

"The Auditor General's report paints a picture of sloppy mismanagement and a lack of adequate controls," he said. "Any contract which is allowed to treble in cost over four or five years cannot be well managed."

Sir Richard added he was glad that Finance Minister Paula Cox had reacted swiftly and pledged to improve financial controls.

Dr. Brown compared the Governor's "public posture" over the TCD issue to his "decidedly different" stance during the forged cheques controversy in February last year.

"There was no public call for people to contact the Police when the Premier and a Government minister [Derrick Burgess] were viciously maligned through the involvement of at least one civil servant in placing forged cheques in Government files," he said.

"With regard to TCD, I regret that the Governor did not afford the Government and Parliament the benefit of our 'constitutional' right to parliamentary debate before publicly concluding that the project could not have been well-managed or before implying that criminal conduct may have occurred.

"The Government deserves better, as do its hard-working civil servants."

He urged the Governor to ensure "the Auditor General speaks through her reports and does not engage in public exchanges through the media".

Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz said the Governor had taken an unusual step in issuing his statement.

"It strikes me that it's the first time he's got involved in this way," he said. "I'm very happy to see that and it shows that he understands the gravity of the situation."

Mr. Moniz said it was unlikely the report would be debated any time soon in Parliament, since it would be referred to the Public Accounts Committee, whose consideration of the document could take months.

Michael Fahy, Bermuda Democratic Alliance's finance spokesman, said: "This whole episode stinks. Surely we are not expected to swallow that re-budgeting from some $5 million to some $15m million was due to inflation?

"We applaud the Auditor General for examining this debacle and now ask the question: who will be held responsible and held accountable for the screw ups?"

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