Does the public have any business knowing what’s happening with the finances of the Bermuda Industrial Union and sports club Pembroke Hamilton Club?None at all, according to a comment from Christ Furbert, who is president of both organisations. These are private organisations, and what they do is the business of their members, and no one else, he believes. Mr Furbert, with all due respect, is wrong.He may have a better argument with regard to PHC than he does with the BIU. But even in the case of PHC, there is a public interest under normal circumstances, and there is very much an interest now that it has been revealed that Government has committed to lease its sports complex, and effectively fund much of its planned redevelopment.That fact alone makes it very much the business of the public. If public money is going to be spent to finance the redevelopment of PHC, then the public has the right to know that its money is going to be well spent. There are strong arguments in favour of a youth and community centre in the heart of Warwick, and it is something that deserves in principle support.But part of the due diligence needed before making that commitment would have to include how PHC had handled its finances, and what has been reported so far raises some questions about that.A decade ago, PHC secured $1.125 million from Esso for the land where its Middle Road, gas station now sits. In addition, it borrowed a further $1.2 million from the BIU to install lights and to resurface its field.For some time, not very much happened, except that PHC’s clubhouse was demolished and the field fell into disuse. Now the field has been resurfaced, and the lights have been installed. However, the field is only used for cricket and not for night football. And many PHC teams train at TN Tatem Middle School.Nonetheless, it appears that the club is facing some financial difficulty is now having to look at different means of raising revenue to service the debt to the BIU, on which it has paid back none of the principal. To be fair, PHC was unlucky as the tenant of its Hamilton building, Total Home, fell behind on its rent and then collapsed, leaving PHC out of pocket. PHC is not the only landlord to face that problem these days.Still, it does beg the question of whether PHC received value for money for the more than $2 million it had in hand a decade ago. On the face of it, the club has little to show for it and may now be forced to sell its Hamilton building. This would be a tragedy for an iconic workmen’s club which has been a pillar of the Bermuda community.As for the BIU, the union plays a central role in Bermuda life. It has the means to uplift and support thousands of working men and women, and the means to cause massive disruption as well. With that power comes responsibility, both to the community generally and to its own members.In the last decade, the union, with no doubt the best of intentions, has lent or guaranteed substantial sums of money to organisations that are not directly involved with it. One was Pro-Active Management, which had the contract for construction of the Berkeley Institute. The other was PHC.In the case of Pro-Active, the union ended up having to have millions of dollars owed to Government forgiven; the alternative being financial disaster for the union. As a result, the taxpayer was heavily left out of pocket. Now the union appears to be facing a situation where its loan to PHC may be difficult to retrieve.Given the economic mess Bermuda is in, the union might well feel a better use for the money would be to assist its members who find themselves unemployed or laid off. But it is tied up with PHC, and has been for a decade. While it is true that the BIU has benefited from the income, that will be of little succour to its members now.And it goes without saying that Mr Furbert faces a difficult conflict of interest as the head of both the creditor and the debtor.The public and the members of both organisations deserve a proper accounting of PHC and the BIU’s financial positions, and the thinking behind the loan made to the club.