Health Minister Nelson Bascome last night stringently denied allegations that he improperly interfered in the awarding of contracts at the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC).

Saying he was "shocked and saddened" to learn that former BHC general manager Raymonde Dill had publicly accused him of ordering a contract awarded to a company that had not bid using his ministerial sway, Mr. Bascome said he had no power to do so and that it was, in fact, Mr. Dill's job to ensure bids were properly presented to the BHC board.

"I refute entirely Mr. Dill's contention that I threatened him or instructed him to award a contract to Bermuda Composite Construction," Mr. Bascome said.

Mr. Dill - who was sacked three weeks ago from BHC after having been on suspension since the corruption scandal broke in March - told the Bermuda Sun that Mr. Bascome told him to award a $300,000 contract for landscaping at Southside to Island Construction which is headed by Zane DeSilva.

Mr. Dill claims he was directed to do so at a meeting in which Mr. DeSilva was present due to his role as one of four directors of a second company, Bermuda Composite Construction (BCC), which was contracted to build the low cost units.

Mr. Dill claimed Mr. Bascome asked him the amount of the lowest bid received on the contract. At this point, Mr. Dill said he lied to the Minister and cited an amount $75,000 less than the actual lowest bid, to get BHC a better deal.

He claimed Mr. Bascome then told him to award the job to Island Construction at the figure cited ($300,000), although the company had not bid on the work.

"I shudder to think what would have happened if I had refused to give Island Construction the contract," Mr. Dill told the Bermuda Sun when asked why he complied with the request.

Mr. Dill added that he broke off direct contact with Mr. DeSilva at that point and thereon only communicated with the contractor through Mr. Bascome.

Yesterday, however, Mr. Bascome wholly denied this version of events.

"In setting the record straight, it should be noted that there was a personality conflict between Mr. Dill and Mr. DeSilva of BCC," he said. "The situation deteriorated to the point where Mr. DeSilva was threatening to walk off the project amid complaints that BHC was withholding payments for ongoing work."

This assertion contradicts Mr. Dill's claims that BCC ran into cash flow problems after Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown withheld payment for work done on his home and Mr. DeSilva then tried to recoup for the shortfall by approaching BHC for more money on ongoing projects.

Mr. Bascome continued: "It was at that point that I stepped into the picture in an attempt to break the impasse that threatened the progress of a very important housing development.

"The result of my intervention was a resumption of relations between the Bermuda Housing Corporation and BCC. As a result, the work proceeded unimpeded."

Mr. Bascome said the contract for the landscaping portion of the Southside job actually needed to be re-tendered because the job had been scaled back from 20 homes to 17.

"Because the number of units at Southside were scaled back, the landscaping requirements were also reduced," he said.

"Mr. Dill informed me that the hard and soft landscaping portion of the contract needed to be re-tendered.

"Events transpired that BCC re-bid on the landscaping portion and Mr. Dill let me know that BCC was, indeed, the lowest bidder."

Mr. Bascome said he only became aware the contract did not go through regular bidding channels when he received an electronic copy of the Sun's article while off the Island.

"Let me make the following point concerning allegations levelled by Mr. Dill in the Bermuda Sun in regard to the awarding of a $300,000 tender for a landscaping contract," he said.

"I cannot tell an employee of the Bermuda Housing Corporation to award a tender. It is not in my mandate. To my knowledge, Mr. Dill did not take the contract to the BHC board when it was his job to do so."

He said the suggestion he attempted to circumvent tendering procedure contradicts protocols put in place specifically to prevent undue use of political influence.

"If, and I say 'if' with a capital I, Mr. Dill believed he was being given a directive by the Minister that was contrary to protocol, he should have said so right away," Mr. Bascome said. "He did not go to the board as expected and required, and he was under the mistaken impression that he had been ordered by me to award the contract in question."

The Minister said he has already met with the Premier with regard to the allegations launched by Mr. Dill.

"I have had a conversation with the Premier and now I wish to make it abundantly clear to the public and the media that I have not on any occasion involved myself in activity which can be deemed improper or illegal," he said.

He added: "I am confident that my account of the events that transpired will vindicate my actions with respect to the Southside housing project and that my integrity as a Minister will be upheld."