The United Bermuda Party believes the latest Auditor General report illustrates that the Finance Minister has little control.

The report was a hard-hitting review of 2007/08 which said there was inadequate control over Government bank accounts, according to Auditor General Heather Jacobs Matthews who released it in the House of Assembly on Friday.

The report highlights two major areas of concern, one being the controversial faith-based tourism scheme and the other the National Drug Commission. It also outlined that civil servants spent taxpayers money on Victoria Secret's and trips for their family.

Yesterday United Bermuda Party deputy leader Trevor Moniz said he was particularly concerned that public entities which received Government funds "ignored" the Finance Minister's reporting directives, as stated in the report.

"It is our view that part of the problem is the Minister and her Ministry is not taken seriously by those whom they deal with," he said. "Strong leadership is essential for better management of the public purse and we do not appear have it now.

"We urge concerned Bermudians to read the Auditor General's report. This is your country, your home and its pages say it is not being well served."

Former Auditor General Larry Dennis, who compiled the latest report before retiring, recommended Police investigations into both faith-based tourism and the now defunct National Drug Commission.

Mr. Dennis said Andre Curtis, who ran the tourism scheme, was able to pocket $374,500 of taxpayers' money for very little visible return. He added that it was "inexcusable" that senior civil servants had allowed this happen.

The report stated there is no clear evidence Mr. Curtis set up ten events and brought 2,200 visitors to the Island, both of which he was required to do under the terms of his controversial contract to run the scheme in 2007/08.

The report also found that there was a "complete breakdown of internal controls" at the National Drug Commission which enabled Government employees to spend taxpayers money on Victoria Secrets and flights for their family members.

The report called for the Ministry of Finance to consider disciplinary action against officers whose entities fail to provide enough documents for audits, and to introduce whistle-blower legislation to encourage public employees to report apparent malpractice or other wrongdoings.

Mr. Moniz echoed the Mr. Dennis's call: "The Government must immediately commit to whistle-blower legislation and other transparency measures to break the culture of self-indulgence, waste and irresponsibility that has settled over the handling of Bermuda's public purse"

He asked: "Is it OK for government agents to buy lingerie with taxpayer dollars?

"Is it OK for senior officers to ignore their responsibilities to track and account for the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars?

"Is it OK to have a Finance Minister whose instructions are ignored by civil servants and recipients of tax dollars?"

The UBP believe the Government should implement Whistleblower legislation to protect the right of public servants to speak out against corruption without fear and set minimum standards for disclosure of financial dealings by parliamentarians.

Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell agreed that the report showed there was a culture of mismanagement an a "lackadaisical approach to being financially prudent".

"We have seen again that the Government does not seem to have a grip on its finances," he said. "We are in an unhealthy position.

"There seem to a culture of misspending. You just don't see people doing this off the cuff, spending the public purse on themselves."