The Bermuda Government and its own Accountant-General clashed last night over permission to depart from financial instructions in a bid to redevelop the Island’s airport.

Curtis Stovell, the Accountant-General, told a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee yesterday that he had not been asked for approval for the contract to be granted to the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC). But finance minister Bob Richards later released the memorandum from 2014 in which Mr Stovell gave permission to waive financial instruction conditions.

Mr Richards said: “The Accountant-General determined the applicability of procurement rules in financial instructions with regard to the proposed relationship between the CCC and Government and, after reviewing all relevant documentation and considering all circumstances, gave his permission to proceed with the project using the government to government approach.”

Mr Stovell last night refused to discuss the disparity between his evidence yesterday and his 2014 memo. He referred requests for comment to the Department of Communications and Information.

The memo from Mr Stovell, dated from September last year, said: “Under ideal circumstances a competitive tender process is always preferrable.

But it added that he “gave permission to waive the requirement for three quotations for the services to be provided under the letter agreement”.

His memo to Anthony Manders, the financial secretary, added: “My permission is provided on the condition that when available, further information can be provided on CCC’s fees, even at a high level, to enable an evaluation of value for money for the services.”

The airport proposal came under the renewed scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, which is composed primarily of Members of Parliament.

Asked by David Burt, the PAC chairman, whether he had received a request for bypassing financial instructions on the agreement, or had given approval, Mr Stovell said: “No for both.”

Mr Stovell described the initial agreement with Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) as “an agreement to enter an agreement”.

While nothing has been spent so far on CCC, a cost centre has since been established with some expenditure on the law firm Bennett Jones and CIBC World Markets.

“There is another agreement now where the Government is on the hook,” Mr Burt continued. “Is this not something you would have been required to get permission for?”

“In my opinion, yes,” Mr Stovell said, adding that he had not been consulted.

Asked by Progressive Labour Party MP Lovitta Foggo if he could tell the PAC that the “contract at present will have the people’s interests at heart”, Mr Stovell replied: “I don’t know that I am prepared to answer that.”

The Accountant-General said he had been presented with no case for bypassing the rules, and thus could not give a satisfactory reply. However, questioned by One Bermuda Alliance MP Cole Simons, Mr Stovell conceded that such contracts did proceed on occasion in the Government.

Neither he nor Graham Simmons, the interim director of the Office of Project Management and Procurement, would give an assessment of the worthiness of the project — although Mr Stovell told the PAC that he would not see “glaring issues” and not raise them.

Questioned next, Mr Simmons said he had not been consulted on the present airport agreement, but was still reviewing the document.

Mr Simmons agreed with PLP MP Wayne Furbert that the Government had not followed financial instructions.

Repeating the rule that to depart from financial instructions, permission must be sought from the Accountant-General, Mr Stovell closed by telling the PAC: “Departure without permission is not permitted. We have nothing further to say.”

The PAC membership agreed with Mr Furbert’s suggestion that the financial secretary be called before the committee for questioning.

Echoing a refrain from PAC meetings over years, members on both sides criticised the Government’s financial instructions as lacking any real power.

The second part of the meeting heard updates on the Auditor-General’s report on government funds for the years ended March 31, 2010, March 31, 2011 and March 31, 2012.

In that report, released on November 13, Auditor-General Heather Jacobs Matthews identified “serious deficiencies” for government oversight of capital development projects.

Expressing frustration with the lack of compliance with instructions, Mr Furbert said: “We can’t be expected to sit here knowing that five years from now, the Auditor-General is going to write a report about the airport.”

Mr Simons suggested adding financial instructions to the agenda for discussion at the PAC’s next meeting.

“This has been going on for years and years and years,” he said. “There is no recourse, no sanctions for the malfeasance.”

Replying that he “could not agree more”, Mr Burt said that violations of the instructions could only be made by the accounting officers themselves.

“Hopefully, government ministers can lean on the Minister of Finance to table financial instruction so that the Good Governance Act [brought to Parliament by former PLP Premier Paula Cox] can be put into force,” Mr Burt said, referring to “the exasperation of the public, of this committee, and of the Auditor-General”.

Speaking afterwards to The Royal Gazette, Mr Burt said he was “shocked that the Accountant-General came here today and said that the OBA Government is violating financial instructions in their approach to the airport”.

Ms Jacobs-Matthews said yesterday that although the instructions were “quite robust”, she knew of only one case in which a civil servant had been disciplined.

• To see the memorandum provided to the media by Mr Richards, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.