Former Deputy Premier Derrick Burgess launched a stinging attack on the Commission of Inquiry and its lawyer yesterday, repeatedly comparing the way he was being questioned to an attempt to “re-enact slavery” and declaring he felt like he was before a “lynch mob”.

Mr Burgess took issue with Narinder Hargun, counsel to the commission, within minutes of taking the witness stand at the tribunal and went on to accuse him of trying to “beat me down like a slave” and of “racist practices”.

He was told by commission chairman Sir Anthony Evans he was “beginning to cross a line” and should answer straightforward questions that were put to him.

Several times, Mr Burgess told Sir Anthony, a British judge and former Lord Justice of Appeal, that he had “never walked a day” in his shoes and could therefore never experience nor understand what it was to be a black man and be disrespected.

Mr Burgess ensured the issue of race dominated the morning session at St Theresa’s Church Hall in Hamilton, with the racial make-up of the panel itself coming in for criticism from him.

He questioned why the commission — made up of Sir Anthony, businesswoman Fiona Luck, businessman Kumi Bradshaw and former politician John Barritt — was 75 per cent white in a country with a 60 per cent black population.

“You know what it feels like to me here?” asked Mr Burgess. “That I’m before a lynch mob.”

The former Cabinet Minister, known for his firebrand style of politics, both within Parliament and in his former career as a union leader, was quizzed by Mr Hargun on a series of government capital works projects (see sidebar inside) during the time he was Minister of Works and Engineering, including the over-budget, behind-schedule Dame Lois Browne-Evans court building.

He told the tribunal that while he was Works Minister, he favoured black contractors over white, where their bids for contracts were for similar amounts, because it was the Progressive Labour Party’s policy to enfranchise black business owners who weren’t in the running for projects in the past due to discrimination.

“The black guy would get it because he’s been discriminated against all their lives,” he said, adding that Works and Engineering permanent secretary Robert Horton co-operated with that policy, but the architects in his ministry “certainly” did not.

He claimed to have saved taxpayers millions of dollars in relation to five capital projects while he was Minister and said civil servants were “incensed by that because this little black boy from the streets came in and got the work done for $17 million less”.

Mr Hargun began his questions by asking Mr Burgess about new offices for the Department of Human Resources, suggesting the project wasn’t put out to tender because Mr Burgess didn’t want it to be. Mr Burgess replied: “Mr Hargun, you are incorrect. Don’t tell me stuff you know nothing about. I am very sensitive to disrespect and I will deal with it.” Pressed further about the tendering process, Mr Burgess responded: “Don’t try to tie me to something I knew nothing about. You are not going to recreate torture and slavery here with me.”

When Sir Anthony interjected, saying the commission held the same view about disrespect, Mr Burgess continued: “It is disrespectful when I give you an answer when you are trying to beat me down like a slave to hear what you want to hear when I tell you I have nothing to do with it. Don’t disrespect me.”

Later, his remarks to Mr Hargun turned personal when he claimed — while being quizzed on what he knew about the individuals involved with the company which built the Dame Lois Browne-Evans building — the lawyer was trying to “beat me down like a slave so you get the answers you want”, adding: “I know you are from South Africa, you know.”

Mr Hargun, a director of Conyers Dill & Pearman global law firm and head of litigation in its Bermuda office, is understood to be from India.

Mr Burgess was watched by a crowd of supporters, some of whom murmured their support when he chastised Mr Hargun for being “disrespectful” and pursuing questions he felt he had adequately answered.

Later, peals of laughter rang out in the public gallery when Mr Burgess’s lawyer, Jerome Lynch QC, warned Mr Barritt about a cockroach which was near him on the floor.

Mr Burgess cautioned Mr Barritt: “You shouldn’t be killing cockroaches” and Mr Lynch added: “Well, they are black, for a start.” Mr Burgess again turned to Mr Barritt, who he reminded had black relatives.

Questions about the Dame Lois Browne-Evans building led to fraught exchanges between Mr Hargun and Mr Burgess.

The police and court building was built between 2008 and 2011 when Mr Burgess was Minister, and was completed in June 2011, well over budget and behind schedule, a few months after Ewart Brown stepped down as Premier.

Mr Burgess told the tribunal he was not the minister when the initial contract for the work was entered into and maintained “nothing changed” when the second contract was entered into.

Mr Hargun asked Mr Burgess about cabinet minutes from October 2008, when the contract was discussed.

Asked if he remembered the meeting, Mr Burgess said: “Why are you asking me hypotheticals? This was eight years ago.”

He told Mr Hargun: “Don’t raise your voice at me.”

When Sir Anthony interjected again, stating it was a straightforward question he had been asked, Mr Burgess said: “I like your tone. I don’t recall that meeting. I don’t remember.”s

Telling Mr Hargun “let’s be cool now” as the lawyer continued to ask questions about the project, Mr Burgess again accused him of “trying to re-enact slavery”.

Mr Hargun then suggested to the former Minister that when a contract was entered into by government, the names of those behind the companies involved would be disclosed to Cabinet, to avoid any conflict of interests and to allow Cabinet to be satisfied of their financial standing.

Mr Burgess replied: “That is done before it gets to Cabinet. I am going to tell you one more time, when that paperwork comes to us, they [civil servants] have made their checks. That is not for Cabinet to do.” His reference to Mr Hargun being from South Africa followed.

Sir Anthony intervened again, calling Mr Burgess a person of “great experience” and adding “the least the commission will expect of you is to answer the questions in a respectful way.”

Mr Burgess responded: “Mr chairman, I am glad you recognise my status. He needs to respect it.”

Sir Anthony said: “The commission will judge whether sufficient respect is being shown to a witness,” before Mr Burgess told him: “You have never walked in my shoes. Every day of my life, I am reminded I am black. You will never experience that. Everything we do, it is directed because we are black.”

Sir Anthony told Mr Burgess: “I appreciate you are under some strain” but the PLP backbencher insisted he wasn’t. “I would react according to the atmosphere. I can be cool. If you want to be biblical, I can go there. If you want to be street, I can go there.”

In response to one question, Mr Burgess told Mr Hargun: “We abolished slavery in 1834.” Mr Hargun replied: “I’m not interested in that.”

Mr Burgess said: “I know you are not, because of your racist practices.”

He suggested a line of questioning about the involvement of Vincent Hollinsid and Winters Burgess in LLC — the contractor on the Dame Lois project — was due entirely to their complexion. “If they were white, you wouldn’t even hear those questions to me.”

After Mr Hargun was again accused of racism, the lawyer appealed to Sir Anthony to step in, telling him: “This is abusive.”

It was then that the chairman told Mr Burgess he was “beginning to cross a line”. Mr Burgess’s evidence ended in the afternoon, before former Premier Paula Cox took the stand.

The tribunal continues at 2pm today, when Accountant-General Curtis Stovell is expected to give evidence.

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