Bermuda's highest court of appeal will today consider whether the media should be gagged over further reports from the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) Police dossier.

The hearing at the Privy Council in London comes after the Chief Justice and Court of Appeal both turned down applications from the Attorney General and Police Commissioner for an injunction against the press earlier this year.

The leaked Police file concerns an investigation into alleged corruption at the BHC. Said to run to thousands of pages, it reportedly reveals that Premier Ewart Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith, former Minister Renee Webb, construction boss Zane DeSilva and others were investigated by Police looking into the allegations.

Attorney General Philip Perinchief and Police Commissioner George Jackson first applied for an injunction against further publication after ZBM television news broadcast extracts on May 23, and the Mid-Ocean News published stories on June 1 containing further details from the BHC file.

Dr. Brown launched a stinging attack on the justice system after the Court of Appeal refused to gag the media over the leaked dossier. He has accused the Opposition of engineering the leak in a pre-election bid to destabilise his Government.

Dr. Brown has also launched his own personal legal action against this newspaper and others to stop the publication of further information about him from the BHC file. That action is set to be heard at Supreme Court next week.

The Police investigation into the source of the leaked dossier has seen three arrests — including that of Auditor General Larry Dennis, the Government's fiscal watchdog — but no one has been charged.

Watch the website www.theroyalgazette.com for up-to-the-minute updates on the Privy Council proceedings and read the full story in tomorrow's edition of this newspaper.