Police investigating the leak of confidential files detailing alleged corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation raided the Bermuda Broadcasting Company offices.

Officers were granted a warrant to search the offices — two weeks after ZBM ran a story detailing correspondence between former acting Director of Public Prosecution, Kulandra Ratnesar, and former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith.

It related to an investigation into alleged corruption at BHC, which ended in 2004.

Officers were looking for allegedly stolen documents and were granted a warrant despite a legal challenge by the BBC.

The search began on Monday afternoon — four days after The Royal Gazette’s sister paper The Mid-Ocean News ran a story from a leaked Police dossier centring on allegations of corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

The documents reportedly revealed that Premier Ewart Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith and former Ministers Nelson Bascome, Renée Webb and Arthur Hodgson were all investigated by fraud squad officers looking into the BHC allegations.

Construction boss Zane DeSilva was another prominent person investigated as part of the probe into corruption at BHC, the leaked files reportedly showed.

When the investigation finished in 2004, then acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Kulandra Ratneser, said many of those investigated could only be accused of bad ethics.

Mr. Ratneser also said some of the people investigated escaped prosecution due to Bermuda’s antiquated corruption laws. Since the investigation into the BHC corruption — which is believed to have cost the taxpayer $8 million — one person has been jailed. Terence Smith, a junior BHC officer, was found guilty and jailed last year on 41 counts of fraud.

The warrant, allowing a search of the BBC offices, said Police were looking for statements, files, memos, exhibits, e-mails, reports and general correspondence in relation to the police investigation into the leaked papers.

Rick Richardson, the station’s chief executive officer and managing director, said Police arrived shortly after 3 p.m. and stayed until after 7 p.m.

“The Police came down and did what I would describe as a raid on our operation,” he told The Royal Gazette <$>from outside the station on Fort Hill Road.

“They were looking for documents in connection with BHC and they didn’t find anything, not surprisingly. We didn’t have documents on the premises.”

“They were informed that we did not have any documents. They went through my office, through computers, all loose files, filing cabinets, rolodexes, all releases and network paraphernalia. It took quite some time. They then made their way to the newsroom.

“That was, in our view, pretty disruptive, primarily because journalists are in the process of trying to get the news of the day out.”

He said members of the news team filmed the officers as they searched and that media outlets outside Bermuda, including in the States, were interested in the footage due to the potential constitutional crisis brewing between the Premier and Governor.

“We are going to get many inquiries if this matter doesn’t die down.”

Mr. Richardson said he viewed the raid as unacceptable and a threat to journalists and the principle of freedom of information.

“It (the raid) was very disturbing when we are trying to get to the bottom of a story. We don’t particularly invite a battle with the Police. We are not inviting that.”

A source within the Police described the pressure being put on the media as “unproductive and very dangerous”.

“It’s a very slippery slope,” said the insider. “In any balanced society there are checks and balances. There is only one body that can check the Police and that’s the courts, no one else. That’s what the media need to be looking at.”

The search came after a the Attorney General, Phil Perinchief, wrote to the Governor asking for an in-depth probe into the leaking of the documents.