The Opposition launched a broadside at Government last night for letting Union Asset Holdings (UAH) Ltd. off the hook for $6.8 million owed under a bond due when the Berkeley school project failed.

UAH had been paid $700,000 by Government to buy the bond, which was supposed to act as insurance if a project fails, for original contractors ProActive. It was collateralised by the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU), which owns several buildings in Hamilton.

The U-turn was announced by Premier Ewart Brown on Thursday, together with news that in return the BIU the sole owner of UAH, will implement a cooling-off period of up to 72 hours before walking off the job over workplace grievances in future.

Dr. Brown said money would have been lost pursuing the Berkeley case through the courts, and action to recoup the cash could damage the union, which is vital for a healthy Bermuda.

Last night during the House of Assembly Motion to Adjourn, Shadow Minister of Works and Engineering Pat Gordon-Pamplin described the Berkeley project as "the biggest debacle in this country's history".

She said no-one wanted to undermine the union, and pointed out that her own father Dr. E.F Gordon was a pivotal figure in the founding of the union movement.

However, she said, her father never would have gifted land to the union if he believed such incidents as the current one would occur.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said Government must take the blame for the Berkeley scandal, and complained that the first the Country heard about the latest twist was through the press rather than through a Ministerial statement in the House.

She added that the 72-hour cooling-off period ought not to have been a "quid pro quo" attached to an agreement costing taxpayers $6.8 million.

"We expect that the workers of this country who know what their responsibilities are, fulfill those in a responsible manner," she complained.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin also called for answers over the $680,000, which was the ten percent of the $6.8 million paid as a premium by the Government to the UAH to buy the bond for original contractors Pro-Active.

This at least, she said, should go back into the Government coffers.

And she called for the BIU to file its financial financial statements which is it supposed to do annually but has not done since 2002, to justify the Premier's claim that it would suffer financial hardship if the money was pursued.

She further questioned why, when Government has lawyers working for it in the Attorney General's chambers, Dr. Brown was speaking of large legal bills.

"Someone in the Government needs to give the public some answers," she concluded, pointing out that the true cost of the Berkeley project as yet remains unknown.

Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards said Auditor General Larry Dennis had been unfairly "vilified" over the affair.

"It caused the Auditor General to do a special report on it and he was vilified personally by members of the Government. We know that was all misdirection," said Mr. Richards.

"The famous magician Harry Houdini was a master of that. The criticism and vilification of the Auditor General was misdirection trying to misdirect the public's attention away from the travesty here, by saying there was something biased about him.

"But he has been vindicated 150 percent here. And now we need to redirect the public's attention to the reality of the situation."

Mr. Richards then said: "The Auditor General in his second report questioned whether the receiver in the Government books was going to be collected. Was it real or should it just be written off?

"The Minister of Finance said it was real and 'we are taking steps to collect it'. A letter from Conyers, Dill and Pearman, that was proof. That was a million dollar letter I guess.

"Again the Auditor General was vilifed once more. He was accused of being biased against the Government again another attempt of being Harry Houdini. But the Government isn't Harry Houdini and we didn't fall for it.

"The only thing that disappeared here was the taxpayers' money," he said.

"We never took our eyes off the money but they did their very best to misdirect us and the people of Bermuda, with another personal attack on a guy who was just doing his job."

Mr. Richards said: "This is the biggest raid on the Bermuda treasury in the history of this country, in our entire 400-year history."

"The question is, who is going to be held accountable for all of this? The answer is nobody. Who is responsible for the squandering of the union members' money? For the $6.8 million which comes out of taxpayers' money? The answer is nobody.

"This is not the Bermuda I know but some sort of banana republic which has taken it over.

"The taxpayers want their money back, and the $700,000 premium which we paid for no insurance, we demand that money back."

Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess then claimed the Opposition had a history of not supporting unions.

"The Opposition are right when they talk about overruns," he said. "This country has had many overruns, by this Government and by the previous Government, so that's nothing new.

"Eighty percent of that school was built for just over $50 million and the 20 percent was built for $40 million. But to say the Government owes the union millions of dollars is ludicrous."

He said: "The Opposition are not interested in the union, the benefits and the rights of its members, not one of them.

"None of them, maybe only two of them probably, have ever been in a march to fight for their rights. They've never been interested in the workers of this country, and at one time they had a legal fund to fight the union, back in 1991. The UBP was part of that fund."

The Speaker then adjourned the House until next week.