Bermuda's highest court of appeal has indicated it may take "a good deal" to convince them to gag the media over the leaked Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) dossier.

The Privy Council is due to hear the matter after both the Chief Justice and Court of Appeal turned down an application from the Attorney General and Police Commissioner for an injunction against the press.

Three Law Lords from the Privy Council agreed — during a hastily-convened hearing minutes after the Court of Appeal ruling on June 26 — to grant a temporary news blackout until they can hear the case in full.

Their reasons for this were released yesterday, in a statement pointing out that they only heard from a Queen's Counsel representing Attorney General Phil Perinchief and Commissioner George Jackson and not from a lawyer for the media organisations named in the action.

The statement said if there had been a "full inter partes argument" at that time — a legal term meaning all parties have been notified and are able to make submissions — "it might have taken a good deal to persuade them that the Chief Justice erred in the exercise of his discretion, and that the Court of Appeal was wrong to dismiss the appeal".

The full hearing, with arguments from both sides, could take between eight and twelve months to take place.

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.

Sen. Perinchief and Mr. Jackson first applied for an injunction against the Island's newspapers and broadcast organisations after the Mid-Ocean News published stories on June 1 containing details from the BHC file, and ZBM television news broadcast extracts on May 23.

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, and initiated libel action against the media over published extracts from the dossier.

According to a statement from his spokesman Glenn Jones last month, if the Privy Council bid fails to gag further publications: "Bermuda's long standing supremacist oligarchy would be vested with legal license to intensify the ongoing UBP/media tyranny."

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. No one has been charged.