The Ministry of Finance has been criticised for a refusal to release correspondence related to the airport development agreement.

A Public Access to Information request was made for the exchange between Bob Richards, the One Bermuda Alliance former finance minister, and the airport developers, the Canadian Commercial Corporation.

The request was turned down by the ministry on the basis that some of the records were already public.

But Gitanjali Gutierrez, the Information Commissioner, found that the ministry had failed to locate and identify all records in its possession before it refused the request.

Ms Gutierrez also found that the records had been disclosed under Canadian access to information laws, but that they had been redacted.

That meant the records were not public in full, as required by law for refusal of a Pati request.

The ministry was ordered to conduct additional searches.

The Information Commissioner also reviewed a decision on searches by the Department of Immigration after a Pati request for information related to the four Uighurs, who arrived in Bermuda in June 2009, and their dependents.

During a review by the commissioner’s office, the department reached its own agreement with the requester and conducted extra searches.

Extra records were found as a result.

Full versions of both decisions are online at www.ico.bm.•To read the Information Commissioner’s statement, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.