Former Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons has claimed Government has not been ?transparent? over why an expected $44 million write-off to the civil service pension fund appears to have ended up at more than $52 million.

And Dr. Gibbons questioned why Parliament has not debated the apparently increased write-off through a Supplementary Estimate ? used to agree spending not approved in the budget ? being tabled.

Last year?s Budget statement showed the Government spend on the Public Service Superannuation Fund (PSSF) as being $12 million for 2004/05. At the same time, Finance Minister Paula Cox announced that Government would write off ?a significant portion? of the $44 million that the fund owed.

In a subsequent interview with , Ms Cox indicated that the write-off would actually be the entire $44 million.

However, the original $12 million figure on the PSSF for 2004/5 appears in this year?s budget statement as $65 million for that year. This equates to an apparent write-off of $52 million, not the $44 million the Minister had previously announced.

Dr. Gibbons said: ?This raises serious questions about how committed the Finance Minister is to financial transparency ? particularly with sums of this magnitude.

?I don?t recall seeing a Sup?I don?t recall seeing a Supplementary Estimate to approve this $53 million over-expenditure, which presumably was the amount finally written-off.

?Apart from the fact that there is a $9 million difference between $44 million and $53 million, why wasn?t this $53 million over-expenditure brought to the House for approval in 2005 in accordance with the law and in the interests of transparency??

Dr. Gibbons had asked a similar question during the Economic Debate a week after the budget last month. Responding to this in Parliament at the time, Ms Cox said: ?There was an assertion that I hid $50 million and didn?t tell the people of Bermuda that there?s a write-off. That would be totally reprehensible for any Minister of Finance although it would make a good story.?

Following the debate, in response to questions from about exactly how the higher write-off had been made public, Ms Cox initially said that this had been done last year either by way of a Ministerial Statement, discussions in the House, by tabling statements or in a press release. Asked to provide specifics, she referred back to the $44 million write-off she had commented upon in last year?s budget statement and said that this had also been referred to in a subsequent Ministerial Statement on the PSSF.

In response to a request for a copy of the Ministerial Statement, Ms Cox advised contacting the Financial Secretary Donald Scott or the Clerk to the House of Assembly to obtain a copy.

However, Mr. Scott merely referred back to the original announcement in last year?s budget of a ?significant portion? of the $44 million being written off and the Clerk to the House did not respond.

When pressed for further clarification on what appears to be an apparent write-off of $53 million, Ms Cox responded: ?There is no further comment to be made by me in this regard. You may be seeking to do your job and I give you the benefit of the doubt in that respect but I have no further comment to what I have previously provided.?