The fact that no one is very surprised that there will be no prosecutions stemming from the asbestos scandal at Southside does not make the situation right.

As reported in today's Royal Gazette, Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann has announced that Government will not prosecute anyone involved with the removal of asbestos from a building site operated by a company run by former Progressive Labour Party MP Arthur Pitcher.

A report compiled by Dr. Cann and released late last year revealed that numerous safety and procedural rules had been broken by Mr. Pitcher's company, by the company's client, the Bermuda Housing Corporation, and by the site's landlord, the Bermuda Land Development Company.

According to Dr. Cann, the decision not to prosecute was based upon a number of reasons, including that the three parties that collectively breached the rules may not have been fully informed of the standards.

Dr. Can said: "We feel that there were situations or errors that may have involved a number of different parties and the department has to be clear that its standards were clear to people, that we have enough information to base a prosecution.

"All of that combined led us to a decision not to prosecute anyone."

He added: "We have made sure steps are in place to ensure such a situation does not occur again."

At least the latter statement gives some hope. But the rest of the statement simply does not stand to reason.

Bermuda has had asbestos disposal rules for more than a decade. As Government quangos that have long been involved in construction and renovations, both the BHC and the BLDC should have known full well what the procedures for disposal were.

The same holds true for Mr. Pitcher, who has surely been in the construction trade for long enough to know better.

And of course, as anyone who has spent any time in the courts will tell you, ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially when it comes to an issue like removal and disposal of asbestos.

It is worth recapping the whole of this sorry tale: The asbestos was removed in 2000 by workers who were not wearing masks. The material was then taken from the site in open trucks.

Worried neighbours reported it and then Health Minister Nelson Bascome commissioned a report. The report was completed, but was not released until Premier Alex Scott came to power and actually began to operate the Government in something like the "full sunshine of transparency".

In the meantime, absolutely nothing was done to the offending parties, although Dr. Cann must be taken at his word that measures were put in place to avoid a repeat.

Now that the report has been made public, and still nothing will be done to the offending parties, even though Dr. Cann's report very clearly makes it clear who was to blame.

Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley said yesterday that it confirmed the long-held suspicion that the scandal would be covered up and no one would be held accountable.

He has been proven right.

What this says is that if you are a Government body or a Government contractor, you can breach the rules with impunity, safe in the knowledge that nothing will happen to you.

That isn't just wrong, it stinks. Bermuda deserves better.