Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons (pictured) has renewed calls for Finance Minister Paula Cox to sack key figures in the ?pay-to-play? scandal.

He said Calvin White should be sacked as the Chairman of the Public Funds Investment Committee (PFIC) for organising a PLP golf day for pension-fund managers vying for Government business.

And he said Philadelphia-based Fiduciary Investment Solutions Inc. (FIS) and its CEO Tina Byles Poitevien should also be sacked by Government as its pension fund consultant.

Dr. Gibbons said: ?The further revelations in the April 15 article in the Mid-Ocean News that described how Mr. White, in his formal role as PFIC Chairman, planned a PLP golf tournament with Government pension fund managers, suggests a culture of unethical ?pay to play? activities has now been established within the management of Government?s pension funds.?

The golf day, scheduled for May, 2003, was eventually cancelled ? but not before an e-mail invite was sent to 47 money managers in the US. Many of them managed Bermuda pension funds said Friday?s Mid Ocean article.

The piece also revealed that pension fund managers, invited by Ms Poitevien to the $2,500-per-head lunch that benefited Dr. Ewart Brown?s 2003 election campaign, did not in fact have a close, personal relationship with Dr. Brown as had been alleged by Ms Poitevien.

?There is an old saying that a fish rots from the head,? said Dr. Gibbons. ?Unethical activity by senior members of Government lowers the bar for everyone and reinforces a culture of sleaze.?

Dr. Gibbons said there was no guarantee the selection of investment fund managers and the management of these public funds was in the best interests of the pensioners and civil service beneficiaries.

?Because the PFIC is the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and because its members are appointed by the Minister, only by taking these steps can Minister Cox restore confidence and credibility to her oversight of the PFIC.

?Furthermore, she has yet to answer the following questions:

Was she aware of the pay-to-play activities of her Cabinet colleagues and Mr. Calvin White and Ms Poitevien?

If so, did she find them acceptable?

When will the independent review of the PFIC management begin, who will lead it and when will it report publicly?

When will a best practice, full-disclosure policy be implemented for the Government pension funds?

Dr. Gibbons said: ?By ducking these serious issues and avoiding public scrutiny, she has now become part of the problem.?

An independent pension funds governance review has been launched by the Ministry of Finance. Finance Minister Paula Cox could not be reached for comment last night.