Events surrounding the publication of, and investigation into, the leaking of Police documents concerning allegations of corruption in the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal have been moving with such dizzying speed that they are difficult to keep track of, and it is also easy to forget the central issues concerned.

In the first two weeks of June, the community saw the publication of revelations from the documents, a constitutional crisis between the Cabinet Office and Government House, a demand for Government to take control of the operations of the Police service, an attempt to gag the media from publishing further revelations and, in the first instance, reprinting the allegations already in the public domain, and the arrest, detention and subsequent release of two suspects in the investigation without charges being brought.

The tempo has only increased this week. On Monday, the Island's media won a significant judgment in the Supreme Court when Chief Justice Richard Ground rejected the attempt by the Police and the Attorney General to prevent the media from making further revelations public.

But this was almost immediately overshadowed by the arrest and detention of Auditor General Larry Dennis in connection with the investigation. He was released on Police bail without being charged on Tuesday afternoon, having spent almost 24 hours behind bars.

Earlier that day, Premier Ewart Brown and former Health Minister Nelson Bascome sued the news media, including this newspaper, for libel. Their first action after filing their writs was to attempt to have an appeal against the lifting of the injunction stayed pending the completion of their own legal actions and a separate criminal case against Mr. Bascome.

The effect of that would have been to gag the media from publishing any further revelations for months and possibly years. The Court of Appeal rejected the attempt, and that hearing ended yesterday, with a decision due on Monday.

Following the publication of the documents in the Mid-Ocean News, Dr. Brown said: "The conclusion that the scurrilous scandalisation of elected officials in today's Mid-Ocean News is a politically linked conspiracy involving high offices is close to inescapable."

Julian Hall, an advisor and supporter of Dr. Brown, went further in this newspaper as he made claims that the revelations were linked to the United Bermuda Party and were apparently some kind of white supremacist plot.

This newspaper published his views at length in the interests of fairness and because he raised important issues that deserve to be aired, but it is worth noting that the UBP's leader Michael Dunkley has denied any involvement, (although Mr. Hall stands by his story.)

Nonetheless, if Dr. Brown is entitled to believe that the publication of the allegations is part of some kind of conspiracy against him, then the same can be said of what is now taking on all the hallmarks of a witch hunt against the media and other independent institutions in this community.

Dr. Brown has threatened to cut off relations with Government House, Sen. David Burch has demanded control of the Police, the Attorney General and the Police have engaged in lengthy and expensive efforts to gag the media, and now the Auditor General has been arrested and detained.

None of this is to say that the Police should not be investigating the leaks — which they characterise as a theft — of the documents. Clearly, a serious breach of security has taken place within the Police and the Commissioner and his officers should be doing all they can to determine how it happened and who was responsible and should then take action.

But the events of the last few weeks are overkill, so much so that more and more people are asking just what it is that the leaders of this Island seem to be so desperate to hide.

Mr. Hall, in his column in this newspaper, rightly warned that "the need for stability" is often trotted out in an effort to block progress. But current actions by the Government and the Police are unquestionably destabilising this community and damaging the reputation on which it depends for its economic wellbeing.

The duty of any government is to do everything it can to maintain a well ordered society. The events of the last few weeks have been anything but, and send the message to its residents and to the world that all is not well in Bermuda.