The Finance Ministry does not expect to release a report into the affairs of controversial Bermuda mutual fund IPOC International Growth Fund now or in the foreseeable future.

The Ministry made the statement yesterday in response to questions from in the wake of a front page story in The Wall Street Journal this week which detailed the long-running international court battle over the fund, which is alleged to be controlled by Russia's Telecommunications Minister and has been found by the Bermuda Supreme Court to have been used for money laundering.

Finance Minister Paula Cox appointed KPMG Advisory Services officials Malcolm Butterfield and Michael Morrison to inspect the affairs of IPOC in 2004 and they submitted the report ? said to have cost $8 million ? in August this year.

Asked what actions, if any, had been taken as a result of the report and when and if it would be released, the Ministry said in an e-mailed statement: "The Ministry can advise that due to the status of a number of prudent actions now been taken as a result of the Report, the Ministry is unable to speak to such actions publicly at this point in time as due to the nature of the actions underway it would not be in the best interest of Bermuda to do so.

"The Ministry can reconfirm that there is no intention to release the Report in the public domain at this time or in the foreseeable future in order to give the appropriate regulatory and other authorities in all applicable countries a reasonable opportunity to exercise their options.

"As you can appreciate, there are number of procedures that must be reviewed, given the number of other countries who may have an interest in this matter."

In an earlier E-mailed response, Ms Cox said: "A considerable amount of significant work has taken place and is taking place ? some court applications included, correspondence and work that includes a fair amount of cross-Ministry and regulatory work. There are some critical decisions that will emanate out of it."

Ms Cox added that the Ministry was unable to disclose more information at this time, noting that the case was "very complex" and regulators had been hampered by a lack of cooperation from Russian authorities.

In addition, some of the matters remained in the courts, which also restricted the extent to which Government could put information in the public domain, she said.

In September, Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley ruled that the fund was a money-laundering organisation.

The ruling was a blow to the fund, because it was the first court ruling to uphold a finding by a tribunal in Zurich set up by the International Chamber of Commerce.

The tribunal also found that Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman was the sole beneficial owner of the fund, which is estimated to be worth $1 billion. Evidence presented to the tribunal ? initially set up by a convicted fraudster ? showed that Mr. Reiman had amassed great personal wealth at the expense of Russian state assets he was obliged to protect.

Most of the Bermuda legal actions concern a dispute between IPOC and LV Finance Group over a 25 percent stake in Megafon, Russia's third largest mobile operator.

Alfa Group bought LV's stake in Megafon in 2003, but IPOC claims it signed option agreements to obtain those same stocks back in 2001.

The dispute has sparked lawsuits in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Russia and Switzerland.

Several other local businesses have also been linked by Offshore Alert to the scandal, including Bermuda Commercial Bank and/or its affiliates and the law firm of Wakefield Quin and/or its affiliates, including Roderick Forrest, Wakefield Quin's 'Senior Counsel, Corporate' who served not only as a director of at least five IPOC firms but also as vice president of IPOC International Growth Fund.

In addition, a US intelligence firm has agreed to pay $1.7 million in damages to settle an allegation that it corrupted KPMG's investigation into IPOC, according to Miami-based OffshoreAlert.

The newsletter said Diligence LLC, which settled the civil suit brought by KPMG, Mr. Butterfield and Mr. Morrison in June, had been accused of using bribery, deception, and computer hacking to obtain confidential information about the investigation into alleged money laundering by IPOC and 11 Bermuda-registered affiliates.