The Ministry of Finance is confident in Canadian firm Morneau Sobeco?s ability to conduct a fully independent governance review of the Bermuda pension funds, Government stated yesterday.

Concerns were raised after Morneau Sobeco partner Al Kiel was identified as the person in charge of the review and he revealed that he had not been briefed about accusations of pay-to-play and other ethical issues surrounding the Bermuda Government pension funds.

Mr. Kiel has worked as a consultant for Government several times ? in 1997-98 on the National Pension Scheme legislation, and has advised Government as recently as 2003.

However: ?The only way to obtain any kind of completely objective review ? governance or forensic ? is to engage a qualified consultant without a previous or ongoing connection to the Ministry of Finance,? Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons said earlier this week.

As for the fact that Mr. Kiel was unaware of the allegations, Dr. Gibbons said that meant Government?s probe into the funds misses the point, and called for ?a forensic review which would investigate issues of pension mismanagement, including pay-to-play, conflict of interest, and other unethical activities?.

Yesterday Assistant Financial Secretary Anthony Manders told : ?Morneau Sobeco has been fully briefed with regards to the governance review.? When asked if that included the pay-to-play allegations, Finance Secretary Donald Scott responded: ?All of the information that was in the public domain was shared with the reviewer?.

?As previously stated, the Ministry of Finance is confident that Morneau Sobeco will conduct a fully independent review with complete integrity,? the Ministry stated. ?For anyone to suggest otherwise does extreme disservice to dedicated and competent professionals.?

Asked whether Government will be conducting a review specifically targeting the pay-to-play allegations, Mr. Manders replied: ?The funds under management are accounted for. The allocations of funds to investment managers are held by an independent custodian, all trades are settled by the custodian. The custodian balances are reconciled and are subject to annual audit.?

The governance review is expected to be complete in approximately three months.