A leading trade unionist is urging Government to put aside differences, political or otherwise, and assist in getting the Office of the Auditor General straightened out and operational again.

Ed Ball has never seen any Government department in such a state of disorder as the Auditor General?s following its sudden relocation to an unprepared office space 11 days ago.

The General Secretary of the Bermuda Public Services Union has toured the cluttered and chaotic office and seen professional auditing staff having to carry boxes and furniture around attempting to bring some semblance of order to the office.

One of the most important branches of Government currently resembles a storage warehouse since being moved by the Ministry of Works and Engineering from the fourth floor to a vacant and 1,500 sq ft smaller space on the third floor of an office block on Victoria Street.

Mr. Ball said he was appalled by what he had seen after visiting the office and speaking to Mr. Dennis, who returned to the Island at the weekend to see what had happened in his absence.

?There are staff, male and female, moving boxes and furniture and clearing offices full of boxes so that they can get into the offices. The office space has been reduced, there are no telephones or computers or computer server,? said Mr. Ball.

?A lot of the furniture was damaged in transit, some of the filing cabinets have been bent because of stress and straining.? And he said it was wrong that professional auditors were having to do this remedial work, adding: ?W&E should get in there and assist. All differences apart they should be liasing and getting this Government department up and running.?

Auditor General Larry Dennis has expressed the belief that his office has been deliberately targeted in an 11th hour relocation for political reasons after it was critical of Government last month when it identified $800 million of public money that could not be readily checked.

Minister of Works and Engineering David Burch has denied there is any plan to target the AG?s office. The need to relocate the office has been under discussion since last September but a plan for the new, much smaller office was not produced by W&E until May 5, less than three weeks before the former office lease was due to expire. No remedial work had been done to equip or configure the new office space before a W&E team was sent to cart the furniture out of the office on May 27 after less than 24 hours? notice was given. As a result the office, which performs the role of an independent watchdog over Government?s financial affairs to identify waste, inefficiencies and errors, has been left virtually unable to continue its work until its new office space can be equipped with the necessary level of IT and telephone infrastructure and be configured to accommodate filing cabinets and office furniture. The Ministry of W&E has responsibility for housing all Government departments and related parties. Auditor General Mr. Dennis intends to report the matter to the United Nations.

Mr. Ball said the facts of the lease, move and available office space had not been accurately shared with the Auditor General and his staff. He added: ?We have to ensure that workers, as much as possible, have a safe environment. I?m calling on the Secretary to the Cabinet John Drinkwater to ensure the process is done fairly. I am sure he would want all the Government?s departments to be up and running as efficiently and effectively as possible.?

The politics of the matter need to be set aside, said Mr. Ball. ?This is the first time to my knowledge that something like this has ever happened to a Government department. Normally there is a clear process for a move, not where you have to move boxes out of an office so that furniture can be moved back in or where there is less space to fit in desks,? he said.

?We are concerned about the safety and mental health of these employees.?