ONE of the more surprising revelations to emerge from that humongous report of the UK Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr.Editor, was the news that former Governor Sir John Vereker "objected strongly to the Bermuda Government at the time" over the way in which the Auditor General had been treated.

What was not clear from the Report was, precisely about what treatment the Governor had protested. Afterall, there is a quite a history here: from the forcible relocation of the Auditor General's offices on less than 24 hours notice, when the Auditor General was off island, to his arrest and detention overnight in jail on suspicion of receiving stolen property, and everything else in between.

It was the first I had heard of any protest, but that may or may not be that surprising: I have an impression that Governors tend to work that way,most of the time, behind the scenes, as it were, quiet diplomacy and all that.

In any event, one wonders what role, if any, the Governor played in the arrest and investigation, assuming that there would be no point registering any protest with the Bermuda Government as the control and direction of the police service are not within the Government's jursidiction, but more possibly the Governor's.

Or do I have that wrong? But who knows, Mr. Editor? Well, we the people ought to know - and we ought to know more than we apparently do.

The Foreign Affairs Committee was moved in its Report to recount that most unfortunate spectacle of the raid on the offices of the Auditor General, and the arrest of the Auditor General, and his detention at the Hamilton City jail for questioning, as part of a police investigation into the leak of what were termed "confidential police investigation documents", arising out of their probe into the allegations of corruption within the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

But these events drew no further comment or recommendation from the FAC, unless we are meant to find it buried in the one main recommendation in the Bermuda secrtion of the Report, namely that:

"We recommend that the (UK) Government sets out in its response to this Report the steps it has taken to ensure that allegations of corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation, in the issuing of contracts, and of electoral fraud in Bermuda are properly investigated. We also recommend that the Government should encourage the Bermuda government to strengthen its transparency measures, including by establishing an independent Electoral Commission and ending the practice of Committees of the House of Assembly sitting in camera."

It's a pity that the Committee was silent on the role of the Auditor General - and his treatment.

This is far from a dead issue - as we have seen from the most recent Report of the Auditor General in which Mr. Dennis gives his own account of events leading up to his arrest (which are worth repeating here - and reading - as they make the point better than I can: see below), and who comes to a damning conclusion.

"With reasons for my arrest now very much debatable", Mr. Dennis asserted, "I feel that my arrest was an attempt to discredit me and was politically motivated."

This was no hint or suggestion pointing to possible political interference. He has levelled a serious charge, and not lightly - and one which eventually drew a reply from the Police Commissioner, who not suprisingly denied that he or his officers were subject to any political influence, although the fact remains he joined with the Government in a civil action to supress publication of information which the highest court ruled was the public's right to know, and who expressed his exasperation that the Audtior General had spurned attempts at prior consensual cooperation, that is prior to the raid, arrest and detention. (On this, the Auditor General has in turn wondered out loud what attempts and just what was meant by consensual cooperation? I am curious too.) Meanwhile, Police Commissioner George Jackson was at pains in his most recent rebuke to point out that the matter is still under police investigation, and that someone may yet be charged with the theft of confidential police files.

Uh, Please. Let's bring this ping pong game of words to an end.

Enough is enough.

It's time we all knew what happened, when and why - and in the sunshine of public scrutiny.

The Governor, Auditor General and Police Commissioner, all have important roles to fulfil under the Bermuda Constitution Order, and the independence of all three, particularly the latter two, from political considerations and influence, is critical to the jobs they are meant to do, not for the Government, or the Opposition, but for the people of Bermuda.

Here's where we could use a commission of inquiry - or an independent inquiry of some sort, please - to review and report on just what transpired, when, and between whom, and to make recommendations on how Bermuda's system of governance can be improved.

There are always lessons to be learned.

For starters, there's the simple issue of how confidential police documents came to be so easily obtained in the first place, and what can be done to shore up security if that is the problem.

Then there's the more important issue of what the Auditor General should or should not do with information or documents that are given to him, and whether this is something which can be and should be properly addressed by the adoption of whistleblower legislation - a proper legislative framework for those who wish to expose what they believe to be wrongdoing.

There could also be guidance - and guidelines - on what should be done when the Police Commissioner and Auditor General find themselves in conflict as they seek to perform their respective roles under the Bermuda Consitution Order.

The issues which Auditor General Mr. Dennis has raised in his most recent Report to the Legislature could conceivably become the subject of further debate and study by the Public Accounts Committee, assuming, if you've been following along, PAC can first succeed in obtaining a quorum to conduct a meeting; although it seems to me the scope and importance of any inquiry should be independent and open.

The FAC at least took the point about committee meetings of the Legislature (still) being held in secret. They shouldn't be in this day and age.

It was disappointing though, that the UK parliamentary committee did not take a more comprehensive approach to the need for reform in governance in Bermuda - which had been the focus of not just the paper which I penned on behalf of the United Bermuda Party, but also other groups and persons who made submissions. As I have tried to highlight over the past three weeks, Bermuda is in danger of falling behind modern practice.

Oh well, I suppose we must be grateful for small mercies.

At least the FAC made some noise about the need to strenghen transparency in its one Bermuda recommendation.

But we are not the only fish left in the Overseas Territories sea - and, as we soon learned, there were other more troubled areas that captured the Committee's imagination and attention.

NEXT WEEK: What the UBP told the FAC.