The long-running, multi-billion dollar saga of Bermuda-registered Russian investment fund IPOC is set to rumble through the Island's courts for at least another year.

The latest attempt to shut down the seven-year old incorporation and a number of related companies was deflected at a Supreme Court hearing, where a basic timetable for the continuation of a battle to wind-up IPOC was presented.

That legal action timetable now stretches towards next May, with a tentative hope of an eventual trial possible in September 2008.

With a reputed sum somewhere between $4 billion and $10 billion at stake it is little wonder nine eagle-eyed lawyers filled the courtroom benches for the latest episode in the dispute when it was heard last Friday.

The Ministry of Finance's bid to close down IPOC, a entity that has become embroiled in legal cases around the world over a disputed claim to a $4 billion stake in Russian telecoms company MegaFon, appeared on track as a winding-up petition was brought before Judge Ian Kawaley.

But it was not to be as lawyer Mark Diel, representing the IPOC parties, successfully argued the winding-up petition did not have sufficient evidential detail to allow him or his clients to offer a counter argument to oppose the order.

The IPOC case is filled with intrigue, claims of James Bond-style espionage, and intertwined sub-plots.

Boiled down, it is the story of a Russian fund registered in Bermuda in 2000, that went on to make a number of deals it claimed gave it the right to a 25.1 percent stake in Russia's giant MegaFon company - said to be worth at least $15 billion. That would value the disputed stake around $3.9 billion.

IPOC already has a further undisputed stake in MegaFon of 39.3 percent, worth about $5.9 billion.

Its battle to prove it is the rightful owner of the disputed 25.1 percent appeared to have reached a compromise earlier this year with a report in a London financial newspaper that claimed the competing interests had agreed to cease the myriad of court actions with IPOC no longer seeking the disputed claim. Ending the legal tussles would allow IPOC to sell its sizeable 39.3 percent share to another Russian billionaire, said the reports.

From Bermuda's perspective the attempt to wind-up IPOC is all about preserving the Island's financial standing and integrity. In a statement earlier this year Finance Minister Paula Cox said the legal action was necessary "to address seeming breaches of our laws and apparent regulatory infractions."

IPOC was declassified as a Bermuda-registered mutual fund by the Bermuda Monetary Authority last December.

Both legal teams at last Friday's hearing agreed the IPOC case was taking Bermuda into unchartered legal waters.

On behalf of the Ministry, lawyer Susan Davis-Crockwell said it would have been helpful to know, through an affidavit, what points within the winding-up order IPOC and the companies take issue with.

For the IPOC side, lawyer Mark Diel countered that the winding-up affidavit should have set out all the evidence the petitioners seek to rely on so that his side could make a full response. He argued the near 70-page petition did not do this and gave as an example an allegation that IPOC had breached the BMA Companies Act by filing a prospectus in breach of the BMA policy which, he said: "We have never seen."

Mr Diel said: "The issues can't be crystalised until we see the evidence. We are looking at - in a corporate sense - a potential death sentence on these companies by the Minister."

Ms Davis-Crockwell countered that evidence supporting the petition had been available since January, but Mr. Diel said it was not sufficiently clear.

He presented a suggested timetable for the way forward, which was agreed in court and calls for the winding-up petition to be filed with evidence by December 19, after which the respondents will file evidence of opposition within the following 12 weeks. The petitioners then have a further six weeks to reply and the case will be listed for further directions on May 8.

It is anticipated there will eventually be a two-week hearing on the winding-up move, most likely in September of next year.