The boss of a construction firm named in the 'false cheques' scandal yesterday backed up claims cheques were doctored to imply the Premier and Works Minister received kickbacks.

Adlia Davy said Scorpio Construction was given a cheque for $14,780 by Landmark Lisgar Construction in May last year for work done on the controversial Police/court building in Hamilton. He said he deposited it himself straight away.

Last week, a cheque for $14,780 from Landmark Lisgar was found in Works and Engineering files — but instead of Scorpio, the payee was 'Dr. E. Brown'.

Premier Ewart Brown claims the cheque was tampered with to make it seem like he received the money from Landmark Lisgar, now LLC Bermuda.

Another allegedly false cheque was found suggesting Landmark Lisgar had paid $10,000 to 'D. Burgess' — with Works Minister Derrick Burgess saying that cheque had in fact been made out to Chester Management.

Scorpio Construction did steel work and carpentry on the Court Street project in April last year and was paid for labour costs.

Mr. Davy told The Royal Gazette he was not aware of any controversy about the cheques until he visited LLC Bermuda last Wednesday, the day before the public found out via an extraordinary press conference.

"I was surprised somebody would do that to the Premier," said Mr. Davy. "The only thing I know is I got my cheque and cashed my cheque."

He showed this newspaper a statement revealing Landmark Lisgar paid Scorpio $14,780 last May. The statement said the cheque was number 0123 — the same number on the allegedly false cheque bearing the name 'Dr. E. Brown'.

Asked if he thought somebody had tried to frame the Premier, Mr. Davy said: "Guess so."

Scorpio, which specialises in masonry, carpentry, steel fixing, electrics and plumbing, was formed five years ago and the main shareholder is Mr. Davy's wife Quenetta Davy, a Bermudian; Mr. Davy is Jamaican. There are no other shareholders.

The firm is still on site, with Mr. Davy saying, despite criticism in the media, work is going "pretty well". He said he was disappointed at negative reports in the press, adding: "You can't read a newspaper."

Builders on Court Street said they weren't allowed to speak to the press, but insisted they were determined to do a good job to prove the critics wrong.

Police say they are urgently investigating the false cheques claims, but so far nobody has suggested who would have a clear motive as well as access to the cheques and Works and Engineering files, and the technology to alter the cheques. Experts say it is next to impossible that any falsification took place inside the banking system.

Sir Richard Gozney made the unusual move of visiting Cabinet on Tuesday morning to personally assure Ministers every effort is being made to solve the mystery.

It is understood officers have now carried out search warrants at Works and Engineering and Bank of Bermuda.

According to Government, the cheques were discovered by Permanent Secretary Robert Horton as he looked through the files in response to queries from Auditor General Larry Dennis.

Finance Minister Paula Cox told this newspaper Mr. Dennis had met with the Ministry of Finance to communicate concerns about the project and the matter was referred to Internal Audit.

Mr. Dennis is carrying out a 'value for money' audit into the Police/court building project that has seen its cost rise and faced controversy over the appointment of contractors Landmark Lisgar, which was not the choice of Government's technical officers.

Mr. Burgess undermined Mr. Dennis' credibility in an angry Ministerial Statement last week, although Sir Richard says he has every confidence in the Auditor General. Previously, Mr. Dennis has described Mr. Burgess' attacks on himself as politically motivated.

Responding yesterday, Shadow Minister for Legislative Reform and Justice John Barritt said: "If this affair shows anything it shows that the Auditor General is doing his job, like it or not, like him or not.

"This is why we have an Auditor General, and why it is important to have an independent office of the Auditor General frankly, to ferret these things out and make sure they do not get ignored and/or swept under the carpet, and then perhaps even more importantly, after thorough examination and review, to make recommendations so as to minimise if not eliminate the possibility of anything like this happening again."