Alfred Minors, husband of Economy Minister Patrice Minors, refuses to say why he resigned from the Bermuda Land Development Company in early 2010 not too long after the appointment of a new governing board headed by Ed Saunders and Leroy Bean.But he insists that his record as a professional accountant is unimpeachable and he did address some of Mr Saunders’ assertions in his written statement to the Public Accounts Committee.Mr Minors stressed that every year of his tenure at the Government-owned company, the company’s financial statements received unqualified audits, and he had received a positive letter of recommendation from the company’s HR manager when he left.“It would be best for me to be evaluated by the audited financial statements of the company. And the history,” he told The Royal Gazette.And just months after his resignation, Mr Minors secured a job with the Accountant General’s Department.“They needed accountants with a skill set, experience, and demonstrated adherence to the CICA and CPA accounting code of ethics. I applied for a middle level manager position. Two years later, I am a comptroller reporting to the Accountant General.”Mr Saunders and another former board member Leroy Robinson both confirmed to The Royal Gazette that Mr Minors was one of two staffers who were given an ultimatum to resign or be fired.“His resignation was requested by the CEO as a result of a demand from the board,” said Mr Saunders.Mr Minors did not acknowledge an e-mailed request for comment on Mr Saunders’ version of events.Pressed as to the reasons for his resignation, he said: “There is nothing to ‘clear up’ as to my involvement in anything related to testimony or documents presented to the PAC.”Mr Saunders and Mr Bean are in the spotlight for agreeing to a paid consultancy to review the BLDC while they were its directors.They have already been grilled by the PAC. Mr Saunders told the PAC in a written submission that the pair were concerned at the state of the company’s accounts receivables and that about $2.4 million in debts were on the books as of September 2009 much of which had been allowed to accumulate unchecked.As Director of Accounts and Project Finance, Mr Minors had oversight of monitoring, collecting cash and booking it into the book of accounts, among other responsibilities.He joined the BLDC almost from its inception 14 years ago and set up the company’s management information system.He acknowledged that he had been responsible for the accounts receivables and said he, too, had been concerned at the size of the debts and addressed the problem “as effectively as I could.”And he appeared to cast some doubt on Mr Saunders’ claim that he and Mr Bean had collected $600,000 in six months.“Unfortunately I cannot remember, if that statement is true, how much of that was already in the pipeline.”Mr Minors added that he had taken some steps to address the accounts receivables situation, such as making improvements to the collections system.On Mr Saunders’ concern that the Auditor General had not mentioned a project to redevelop marginal wharf which was six years behind schedule despite having spent more than $500,000 on it, Mr Minors said that the Auditor General could not have seen any material misstatements.“If the Auditor didn’t mention it, then those financial actions related to that are probably not what she would consider warranted to materially mistake the financial presentation of the financial statements,” he said.“In other words you can say what you like, if the Auditor General after auditing your books isn’t saying the same thing which of the two are you going to be relying on?”Asked whether he had been concerned about the project, he said that money had been spent in conceptual development, securing community buy-in and planning for the Morgan’s Point project, but “without investors there can be no project,” he said.“The economy tanked.”He continued: “In my view, if the Auditor General says one thing and there are statements that are opposite, then look to the veracity of the statements.”And asked about Mr Saunders’ statement that the CEO had not prepared a business plan or a budget for three years, Mr Minors said that he had seen both documents every year during his tenure.“The by-laws of the company require that those two things be prepared and I also believe that the incorporating legislation of the BLDC also requires that they be prepared,” he said.“I can’t speak to whether the CEO presented the alleged business plan to the board,” he said when asked whether Mr Saunders was factually incorrect.“Talk to them. it is in Mr Saunders’ and Mr Bean’s interest to say they never received it.”On another point raised by Mr Saunders, Mr Minors said that financial policy and procedures “should be updated to reflect a change in the environment. If the environment doesn’t change then you don’t change them.”But he said the assertion that the policies had not been updated for 13 years “sounds like a stretch”.Mr Minors acknowledged that he was one of the staff members who had purchased a Southside house, but he said it was purchased at full market value — contradicting Mr Saunders assertion that two staffers had received a 10 percent discount.“It is true that I purchased a home on BLDC property seven years ago. And the other staff member purchased a home in the last two or three years,” he said.“As far as I was aware, concerning the purchase of the property, I paid full market value of the property.”He said: “The persons who were in charge of the BLDC at that time were not into giving discounts on any purchase of property.“The purpose of BLDC is to make a profit. BLDC is to be at arms length of the Government.”Moreover, Mr Minors said, Mr Saunders was not on the board when the house was purchased.“Mr Saunders wasn’t there in 2002, so he is mistaken. If he produces an e-mail saying that the BLDC board approved such a thing, I never saw it and I never heard it.”Moreover, said Mr Minors, he was intimately involved in the accounting for the sale of the refurbished buildings which were subject to a lottery “with published fixed prices”.“The lottery took place between 1998 and 2000. Potential buyers were preapproved by lending institutions. I am unaware of any homeowner receiving a discount off of the prevailing fair market values, at that time,” he said.“I personally booked the entries. The entries were audited specifically by the Auditor, as they were significant revenues to BLDC. The Auditor’s Opinion for those years was ‘Unqualified’.”Mr Minors did not respond to further queries seeking clarification around the circumstances of the purchase of his house.As to the state of the receivables, Mr Minors explained that the BLDC was set up to develop the former baselands for the benefit of Bermudians now and in the future.“As such, BLDC in assessing business ventures would assume a higher level of risk than a normal investment company would do.”Asked whether he felt that Mr Saunders and Mr Bean understood their roles as director, Mr Minors said: “If you took a random poll of accountants that are professionally qualified, with five to ten years of experience, it would be quite clear cut their response on whether the two individuals referred to acted in an ethical manner.”Mr Minors readily acknowledged that he is the “spouse of a Government Minister” referred to in Mr Saunders’ statement, and that he had racked up arrears on his water bill.He explained that the arrears had accumulated when the house was being renovated and his family had been living elsewhere for nine months ending March 2011.“I did not pay my water bill during the nine months of renovations as my family and I were dwelling elsewhere. Upon reoccupation, I resumed paying my water bill and the arrears,” he said. “I expect to be current in two more months.”The bill, according to Mr Saunders’ statement, was $1,270.