PREMIER EWART Brown and a cabal of senior civil servants ride roughshod through Planning regulations in order to fast-track projects involving "friends of the Government", it has been alleged.

And Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque has been labelled a henchman who exerts pressure on administrators to ensure that "priority" projects are rubber-stamped for approval without question, according to fresh Civil Service sources within the trouble-hit department.

One insider revealed that office personnel were powerless to question directives because senior civil servants - including Permanent Secretaries - lacked "the backbone" to challenge their political counterparts.

The allegations come just days after a top Tourism Ministry official branded Dr. Brown a bullying tyrant who abused his position to broker lucrative Government contracts with personal friends and associates within the Tourism industry.

That insider said advisers were ignored by both the Premier and his hand-picked consultants who appeared to be answerable to no one but Dr. Brown.

One Planning Department source, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, alleged that:

nGovernment contracts were "a done deal", awarded to favourable companies, regardless of their ability to perform.

nDr. Brown personally exerted pressure over staff to automatically approve planning requests sent in by "friends of the Government".

nThe Premier's own building projects were fast-tracked for approval in days, while other developers had to wait weeks and months before getting their plans signed off.

nMr. Telemaque would haul administrators into his office and demand that they give Planning submissions the go-ahead, warning that Cabinet could always bypass expert recommendations by issuing Special Development Orders.

This week one Planning official told the Mid-Ocean News: "There are definitely times when there's political interference, and if it's a major project, the Premier gets involved, which just isn't appropriate."

The source also claimed that the controversial contract to build a new pier for mega cruiseships at Dockyard was signed off to Correia Construction before being put out to tender. Company boss Dennis Correia is a close friend of the Premier's and was best man at Dr. Brown's wedding. Mr. Correia's wife, Jane Correia, ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the ruling Progressive Labour Party at last December's General Election.

Construction of the new pier began in the spring of 2007 and was expected to take two years to complete at a cost to the taxpayer of $35 million. However, in February of this year it was revealed that the price tag had ballooned by more than 40 per cent to $50 million.

In the last four months this newspaper has repeatedly asked Government for an explanation for the price hike. In the past six weeks we have also asked for a final cost estimate and expected completion date for the project. Government's Department of Communication and Information has so far failed to respond to questions.

"As far as the new cruise ship terminal is concerned, Correia Construction didn't win the contract because it had the best proposal - it was decided beforehand that they were the ones who were going to get the business. All they had to do was submit his application - it was a done deal," the insider said.

The source added that planning approvals were granted at the behest of politicians, who exerted pressure on civil servants to give the go-ahead.

"There is a fair amount of pressure, and the more political the Planning application, the more pressure there is. And if it's an application involving Dr. Brown, then even more pressure is applied," he said.

Asked what Planning submissions the Premier had made, the source pointed out that Dr. Brown had made a series of amendments to his A.P. Owen Road home after becoming Premier, including high walls and a guard hut. The amendments were rushed through on the grounds of "national security" according to the source.

They also said they received an e-mail from Dr. Brown in reference to one Planning application which read: "Expedite this. This person is a friend of the Government."

"I think that just shows the arrogance of the man," they said.

"I guess that he feels that he is just able to do things like that. But there are certain principles that we all agree on."

The source claimed that the Cabinet Secretary acted as the Premier's Planning point man, summoning administrators to his office whenever an application was judged to be top priority.

"Mr. Telemaque basically pushed things through on behalf of Ewart Brown," they said.

"We are summoned to his office and basically threatened. The thing is there's not a whole lot we can do because if we refuse, then Mr. Telemaque points out that the plan can be passed through a Special Development Order - that's always held over our heads and if it goes that route, it just bypasses all the environmental checks, so what can you do?

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"Part of the problem is that the Permanent Secretaries don't have the backbone to stand up to their political masters and if they can't stand up to them, what chance do we have? They just comply with the Premier's requests."

Government has issued a catalogue of Special Development Orders for controversial building projects in the past year.

The source acknowledged that there was a massive administrative blockage within the system, causing applications to be delayed by months.

"And yet, people in Government and their friends are able to get approval in days," they said.

Asked about the appointment of Ambling Consultants - a Chicago-based consultancy recently awarded a $3.6 million contract by Government to oversee "hotel development", procedural changes within the Planning Department, and a number of other high-profile developments. the source said: "Well they're looking at the legislation which does need to be looked at - there's such a backlog.

"But then again, are they the right fit for Bermuda? Our laws are based on British law so you would have thought either a Bermudian company or, at worst, a British company, would be better off looking into how things can be improved. How can a US company help with British law?"