A ?lockdown? at a New York jail yesterday meant an accountant who stole almost $2 million from the Bermuda Government must wait another week to be sentenced.

Harrison Isaac Jr. admitted in January that he looted the money from a Bank of New York (BONY) account in the biggest fraud against the Government in history. He was set to be sentenced by United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Tuesday, but a last-minute legal wrangle over the wording of his plea meant this was adjourned until yesterday.

Then, a security alert at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn where Isaac is being held meant no-one could leave the facility.

Isaac missed his 3 p.m. hearing at the Manhattan Federal Court. When he was finally brought into court at 4.30 p.m., Judge Swain said it was too late for him to re-enter his amended guilty plea. She ordered that he be brought back to court next Thursday to do this, and be sentenced straight afterwards.

Isaac, who worked as a management accountant in the Accountant General?s department, had sole access to the BONY account which was set up by the Government to pay vendors in US dollars. The 35-year-old Bermudian, formerly of Crawl Point Lane West, Hamilton Parish, is being dealt with in New York City as the crime was committed in that jurisdiction.

According to the charges, he made unauthorised wire transfers to the tune of $1,899,888 to accounts controlled by himself or a co-conspirator in the US and Bermuda between May 2003 and February 2004.

He was arrested in a Police swoop at Bermuda airport in April 2004 and found with an outbound ticket to Atlanta. After being extradited to the US, he was charged along with alleged co-conspirator, 33-year-old US national Teketa Thomkins.

Isaac has struck a plea bargain to testify Tompkins? case ? could theoretically face up to 25 years in jail, although the actual sentence is likely to be shorter.