THE Deputy Leader of the Opposition is calling for a full investigation into the alleged courthouse conflict of interest as Bermuda's ministers are dragged into the Turks and Caicos sleaze inquiry hearings.

The United Bermuda Party's Trevor Moniz spoke to the Mid-Ocean News the day after Bermuda's Government was used as an example by the Deputy Premier of Turks and Caicos during an official hearing on misconduct and corruption, including personal involvement by the Caribbean island's Premier Michael Misick in projects funded by the public purse.

On Wednesday, during the second week of Foreign & Commonwealth Office hearings, Turks and Caicos' Deputy Premier Floyd Hall was asked whether he felt there should be a "statutory regime" in place to guard against Government conflict of interest.

He disagreed, adding that "in Bermuda you can be a minister and still carry on your profession" – before acknowledging that declarations of interest should be "more rigorously enforced".

Mr. Moniz has called for the police, Auditor General and Director of Public Prosecutions to follow suit and fully investigate Bermuda's Government following recent questions regarding beneficial ownership of shares in the new court building project.

"They're investigating political corruption in Turks and Caicos, and we should be looking in the same direction in Bermuda," Mr. Moniz said.

The UBP deputy leader and lawyer, who set up Bermuda's Register of Members' Interests in 1996, believes the people have a right to know why the Government awarded the $78-million courthouse contract to a construction company part-owned by a blind trust.

"There's a cloud hanging over this Government because of a continuing problem with no-bid contracts, their hostility to the Auditor General, and their hostility to the public when asked right and proper questions.

"There's a pall of smoke and everyone's looking for the fire. Who is behind the construction company? Who is getting paid for this? Where is our money going? They have been given the opportunity to come clean. The Premier then uses the notion of a 'plantation question' as a smokescreen. His behaviour is simply disgraceful and beneath contempt. It's pathetic."

Moniz added that he does not accept the Finance Minister's deflection of responsibility for the project's funding to the Ministry of Works & Engineering. When questioned by The Royal Gazette last week, Paula Cox described the project as "outside [her] Ministerial remit".

"It is her obligation to control the finances of the Government of Bermuda," he said. "The Cabinet has a collective responsibility."

Opposition MP and Shadow Minister of Legislative Reform & Justice John Barritt believes both the courthouse controversy and the mention of Bermuda's ministers' employment in Turks and Caicos point to the need for full disclosure.

"There's a gap here," he said. "There is the Register of Members' Interests, but if people don't report it, there's no sanction other than the ballot box."

He added that Bermuda's Government should take a cue from the words of new US President Obama on the absolute need for transparency. In his first executive order, the incoming President said that "every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known".

"There is no better illustration that the words of President Obama on the need for greater transparency," Mr. Barritt said.

"He strikes upon something. In a small community where there could always be conflict of interest, when people have outside involvements, the community and law requires that those interests be disclosed in whatever form they're held.

"The antidote for corruption is total transparency. Who is bidding on Government contracts? Who has beneficial interest? This then must marry up with disclosed interests. We must always, as Obama says, err on the side of openness."