The media should not be gagged from reporting further revelations from a leaked Police dossier on the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal, Chief Justice Richard Ground has ruled.

However, the public should not expect more from the file which makes serious allegations against public figures including the Premier yet — the ruling will be challenged at the Court of Appeal today.

Delivering his judgment at Supreme Court yesterday, Mr. Justice Ground said the balance between protecting the confidential Police file and upholding the constitutional right of the press to report serious allegations concerning important public figures favoured the media in this case.

“The (BHC) allegations are not gratuitous, in that there is some evidence to support them, as set out in the material so far reported. Nor do the allegations concern the private personal life of those concerned. They touch upon their conduct in office.

“In those circumstances, I think that the public interest is genuinely engaged, and this is not a case of the public being officiously interested in matters which do not concern them. I think, therefore, that the balance comes down firmly against restraining the media’s freedom (of) expression,” he said.

Police Commissioner George Jackson and Attorney General Philip Perinchief launched court action against the Island’s media outlets after ZBM and the Mid-Ocean News published extracts from the documents on May 23 and June 1 respectively.

The leaked dossier — said to run to thousands of pages — reportedly revealed that Premier Ewart Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith, former Ministers Renée Webb and Arthur Hodgson and construction boss Zane DeSilva were investigated by Police looking into allegations of corruption at the BHC.

When the probe concluded in 2004, then acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser said some of those investigated escaped prosecution due to Bermuda’s antiquated corruption laws. Only one person has been convicted since the BHC scandal, which is believed to have cost the taxpayer $8 million. Terrence Smith, a former BHC officer, was jailed last year on 41 counts of fraud.

The Island’s media outlets united in opposing the bid to gag them from publishing more on the BHC probe, citing their right to freedom of expression. A hearing last week before Mr. Justice Ground heard how the Mid-Ocean News report prompted the Police to convert existing inquiries into the leak into a full-scale criminal investigation. Two arrests were made last week in connection with this.

Mr. Justice Ground also heard that the whereabouts of the original documents are unknown, although copies have been recovered.

The Commissioner and Attorney General asked for a ban on the so-far unpublished sections being reported, although the contents of these were not outlined during the hearing.

Their lawyer Delroy Duncan, argued that the ban should be granted on grounds including that the documents are confidential. He also cited a fear of what Deputy Commissioner Roseanda Young called “more confidential, and possibly unsubstantiated information” being released.

Mr. Duncan further submitted that future investigations could be harmed if Police officers and informers feared publication of such documents in future.

Saul Froomkin QC, representing the publishers of this newspaper and sister paper the Mid-Ocean News, argued that the right of the media to freedom of expression should be given more weight than the concern that the documents are confidential.

Mr. Justice Ground noted in his judgment backing this view that while Mr. Jackson and Mrs. Young refer to the documents as being stolen, it remains unclear whether they have been stolen or simply copied and distributed to the media.

He said he had no reason to doubt the denials of the media organisations that they have the documents in their possession, and there is nothing to suggest any of them stole documents or trespassed on Police premises.

“The likelihood is that they were the recipients of a leak by some person as yet unknown on the inside,” he said.

Mr. Justice Ground also noted the legal proceedings were not brought by the individuals named in the newspaper report and it was not his function to decide whether the allegations were true.

Although he was only asked for an interim injunction against the media, pending a full trial, Mr. Justice Ground said it was hard to envisage what a trial could add to the considerations already before the court.

He ordered that the costs of the case incurred by the media organisations — which are likely to be substantial — be paid by the Commissioner and Attorney General. In allowing the application from Mr. Duncan to argue against his judgment in the higher court today, Mr. Justice Ground ordered that Bermuda’s broadcasting organisations and the Bermuda Sun should not report further revelations from the dossier in the interim. The Mid-Ocean News and The Royal Gazette agreed to extend a previous undertaking made not to do.

Despite the further obstacle posed by the pending appeal, editor of The Royal Gazette>Bill Zuill yesterday welcomed Mr. Justice Ground’s judgment.

“We are very happy that the Chief Justice recognised the vital role of a free press in a democracy. This is an important day for freedom of speech in Bermuda,” he said.Read full coverage of the appeal in tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette, and watch our website at www.theroyalgazette.bm for breaking news today.