A promise by Housing Minister David Burch to name and shame contractors who ripped off Bermuda Housing Corporation has been branded electioneering bravado by the Opposition.

United Bermuda Party housing spokesmen Michael Dunkley said Sen. Burch had been housing minister for eight months but had failed to clean up the mess after promising to do so.

Sen. Burch said on Tuesday he would name and shame those who had acted dishonestly where BHC would not win the case in court. He implied he would use the Senate chamber where he would enjoy parliamentary privilege which bars him from libel suits.

Mr. Dunkley said Sen. Burch was blustering after realising the money would not be returned. "What does that do for the taxpayer who has been ripped off? This man is trying to protect his image.

Mr. Dunkley said the Opposition were angry at being barred by the House of Assembly speaker from talking about the BHC mess because he deemed it sub judice only to hear Sen. Burch promise to use Senate privilege on the subject.

"The whole scenario is starting to stink.

"He makes it sound like the contractors walked into open vaults at BHC and took the money.

"That's not the case. Contracts had to be approved by someone in authority appointed by someone in the Smith administration.

"I think the Government are forgetting this happened under their watch. The question is how was it allowed to happen to taxpayer's money?

"These people should be held accountable. We don't want any more bravado."

"As the election gets closer and closer it's our belief we'll see more of these laughable press conferences where the minister tries to make people believe they're on top of things. "We look forward to the continued comedy."

Sen. Burch said none of the companies who had over-charged BHC had repaid money. Now 37 companies are on a stop-list for over-billing or shoddy workmanship. Other companies who dealt with BHC are being investigated for fraud.

Mr. Dunkley said he was also surprised by Sen. Burch's announcement that the ceiling on the master mortgage at the Bank of N.T. Butterfield would be raised to $75 million from the figure he said had last been set in 1992.

Sen. Burch said it should have been raised in 1997 but Mr. Dunkley said this had never been discussed in the House of Assembly but had been raised by the PLP in 1999. "That's a lot of extra money the taxpayers will be liable for to be spent cleaning up this mess."The more the minister opens his mouth, the more questions there are to be asked.

"What's this about a $10 million contingency fund? We never heard about this in the House of Assembly in the budget debate.

"All of a sudden there's $10 million to cover the overspending."

Mr. Dunkley wondered why that money couldn't have been found for building homes rather than mistakes made under the PLP watch. "It appears just like that. It was never discussed in the House."

John Gilbert, who was clerk to the legislature for 14 years, said he believed the practice of using the Senate to name and shame would be frowned on despite being legally sound.

He said the courts were the right way to go.

"For some reason he wants a list of shame.

"He can do this without being sued but parliamentary privilege has to be pretty closely guarded, not abused.

"It's certainly unusual in my experience. One doesn't generally name people.

"Naming people in parliament would be considered undesirable in the House.

"I think the Speaker of the house or the president of the Senate could easily say it doesn't keep up with the dignity of the House. He said he thought maybe Sen. Burch was using shock treatment to bluff companies into doing the right thing.

"I imagine he's tried everything under the sun to get these people to pay back the money," said Mr. Gilbert.