THE Civil Service broke its own rules when the Ministry of Works & Engineering forced staff from the Office of the Auditor General to move into premises that were far from being ready to work in.

That is the view of Auditor General Larry Dennis, who intends to make the point in a letter of protest to Cabinet Secretary John Drinkwater.

As his team of professional auditors approached the end of a second week of lugging around boxes of files and shifting furniture amid chaotic scenes in the Victoria Hall office building yesterday, Mr. Dennis said his new down-sized premises would not be fully operational for at least another month.

In the meantime, the work of the audit team in vetting Government accounts will inevitably fall behind.

"As soon as I have an e-mail connection again, I will contact the Minister of Finance to tell her that all deadlines are off," Mr. Dennis said yesterday.

Mr. Dennis also disputed the claim of Premier Alex Scott, made in the House of Assembly, that he had been offered office space in Government-owned buildings in St. David's. And he added that he had spoken with Governor Sir John Vereker about his plight.

To have rendered an important arm of Government inoperative was not only unacceptable, but it was also a breach of Civil Service regulations, the Auditor said.

"The Civil Service has breached its own regulations," Mr. Dennis said. "The rules say that when a government department is moved, its new home should be prepared beforehand.

"There were three months to have done that, because the old tenants moved out in February and our lease did not expire until May."

He said he intended to write to Mr. Drinkwater, who is the head of the Civil Service, to protest.

"All civil servants need to know that they are not obligated to do exactly what they are told to do by a Minister," Mr. Dennis (pictured) said. "They have to be sure that what they are doing is within Civil Service rules.

"If what they are asked to do is outside the rules, they can advise the Minister of that.

"In future, it is important that civil servants know the parameters so this cannot happen to any government department again."

While Ministers dictate policy, the Civil Service's job is to implement it. The Opposition United Bermuda Party has, based on complaints passed onto them by civil servants, frequently accused Ministers of "micro-managing" their departments, going beyond their role of setting policy.

The disarray that has brought the Auditor's work to an almost complete halt over the past two weeks followed a controversial move from the fourth floor down to the third floor of the Victoria Hall office building in Victoria Street.

The office was warned by a phone call at 4 p.m. two weeks ago today, that the Ministry of Works & Engineering would send in a removal team the following day, at a time when Mr. Dennis was off the island.

Furniture, files and equipment were carted down the next floor and dumped in a bare office. Staff have been trying to sort out the mess since. Works & Engineering architects and electricians have also visited the scene to try to help the office get back on its feet.

The floor space available in the new offices is 3,700 square feet, nearly 30 per cent down on the previous premises.

Mr. Dennis has said he believes his office was "attacked" in response to his annual report on Government finances, released last month, in which he pointed out that around $800 million of public money could not be audited because so many accounts were so far behind.

Mr. Dennis' role in auditing Government accounts, highlighting areas of waste and inefficiency, and recommending improvements have made him unpopular with UBP and PLP governments alike.

His independence from Government is enshrined in the Bermuda Constitution and, as a Crown Officer, he reports to the Governor and to Parliament.

Asked whether he had spoken with the Governor about his current predicament, Mr. Dennis said: "Yes, I have done. My impression was that he was sympathetic to my situation and he wished me luck."

Deputy Governor Nick Carter said yesterday that Government House had no comment on Mr. Dennis' situation.

Visitors this week to the work in progress going on at the new offices have included Ottiwell Simmons, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Office of the Auditor General, and Ed Ball, leader of the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU). "I am pleased that various figures who have some responsibilities for this office have come around and seen what's going on and have expressed their concern," the Auditor said.

Mr. Dennis also moved to clarify the events behind a comment made by Premier Scott in the House of Assembly last week.

"Contrary to what the Premier said, I was not offered a space at Southside," the Auditor said. "What happened was that the Minister of Works & Engineering (Senator David Burch) asked whether I would be prepared to move to Southside.

"I said I would not rule it out. But I said if we were going to be serious about it, various other government departments, in particular the Office of the Accountant General, would have to move down there too.

"The truth is that to move to Southside, while 90 per cent of Government's accounting is in Hamilton, would make my office totally inoperational.

"Even if the Government accounts were in good condition, that would be impossible. But given the condition of Government accounts at the moment, my people would be spending all day on their bikes, going from Southside to Hamilton and back."

Mr. Dennis said his new offices had insufficient space to meet the needs of his team, which included storage space for reams of files.

In the Senate this week, Minister Burch said rising office space rents had forced the Government to take a tougher stance on office space allocation. Office rental was costing taxpayers $8.5 million a year and that could rise to $12 million in the next 12 months, he claimed.

He added that Government rented out around 105,000 square feet of office space in Hamilton, on top of the 120,000 square feet it controls, and that the relocation of more departments to government-owned buildings at the east and west ends of the island would be desirable.

Mr. Dennis said: "The people of Bermuda have to understand that office space in Hamilton is very expensive and Government will have to pay for what it needs.

"Contrary to what has been claimed, I have never said the Government should cut back on office space. In fact, I believe that civil servants deserve a decent working environment."

Mr. Dennis said his staff's mood was holding up well in difficult circumstances.

"They came in on Monday and looked at the huge piles of boxes and they looked like zombies," he said. "Since then we have been doing things piece by piece and we've made a lot of progress and morale is beginning to pick up.

"We've had architects here from Works & Engineering who have been very helpful. They've helped us to try to maximise the use of space, for example by reversing doors so they swing out instead of in. Small changes can make a big difference."

Mr. Dennis expected to have Internet connections within two to three weeks and hoped his office would be fully operational in four to six weeks.