The Bermuda Government’s links with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and CIBC World Markets were detailed in a testy exchange between Minister of Finance Bob Richards and Shadow Minister of Finance David Burt.

During Friday’s House of Assembly, Mr Burt posed Parliamentary questions on CIBC and its relationship with Aecon Group, the Canadian construction company that is in the running to build a new airport terminal.

In his written questions, Mr Burt queried the terms of reference for the engagement of the CIBC and/or CIBC World Markets.

Mr Richards has previously described CIBC as the Government’s financial advisor, telling Parliament that the bank had informed him back in April 2014 of a potential public-private partnership available from the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) to get the new terminal built.

The CCC has issued statements of its own saying it was initially informed of the potential job at LF Wade International Airport by Aecon. Mr Richards has repeatedly said that the selection of Aecon as the contractor ultimately lay with the CCC, rather than the Government.

On Friday, Mr Richards told the House that CIBC had been selected on a sole-source basis, “based on the minister’s 43 years in finance and the finance business”.

The shadow minister had asked how much the company was paid each year from 2012 to 2015, and when they started working for the Ministry of Finance.

Posing additional questions in the House, Opposition Leader Marc Bean asked if CIBC had been used as a “back channel” between Bermuda and Aecon, to which the Minister responded: “CIBC has not only been a back channel, but a front channel and a top channel and a sideways channel — they were all the channels. CIBC was our principal adviser on the project.”

Mr Richards added that CIBC are not major shareholders in Aecon.

“There is nobody who owns more than ten per cent of Aecon. CIBC Asset Management owns 1.6 per cent of Aecon. They own them on behalf of clients — not the bank — for individuals and institutional investors.”

He called the allegations that CIBC owned “major or even minor” parts of Aecon “incorrect, inaccurate and wrong”.

Mr Bean then said that CIBC owned shares in Aecon, and asked if the Minister thought that meant there was a conflict of interest, or if it was unethical to be negotiating as a back channel in a company in which they have a shareholding.

However, Mr Richards explained that CIBC held the shares on behalf of their clients, adding: “Therefore there is no conflict of interest.”

He said Aecon was the presumptive vendor, but that “as I stand here today, nothing has been signed”.

Total payments made by the Accountant General to CIBC and/or CIBC World Markets over the period 2012 to 2015 were “zero”, the Minister said.