Government is to table a Green Paper on Freedom of Information legislation in the coming session of Parliament which starts in May.

Last July the Premier said the legislation would open up the inner workings of Government to public scrutiny.

A Government spokeswoman told that public consultation will follow the tabling of the discussion document with legislation then following.

However, there were no clues on what form the legislation would take.

Shadow Attorney General Trevor Moniz said some countries allow citizens to view documents Government and other bodies have on them, while other countries have legislation which makes the workings of Government public.

He said both aspects are important. ?Here there is this total culture of secrecy ? if you want information, you have to prove you have a right to it. I think it should be the other way around ? if you want it secret, you should prove why it should be secret.?

He suggested people should be able to see files Immigration and Police have on them.

?If Immigration have a file on you and someone has made a report with is demonstrably untrue about behaviour which is not quite up to criminal case, then can you speak to those allegations?? he asked.

He said he dealt with one case where Police passed on information on a person they were investigating to Interpol even before they had decided whether to charge the person.

?It?s ridiculous,? Mr. Moniz said. ?You should be able to say to them ?Let me see the file?. People don?t have any rights on this, unless they go to court, which his hugely expensive and takes years from your life.?

He said Government do not need to wait for a new act to be more open ? they simply need to release reports such as the investigation into allegations of corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

?They say ?trust us?,? Mr. Moniz added. ?I don?t want to trust you, I want to see the report.?

He said reports into investigations of Cabinet ministers should always be made available for the public.