FRIDAY JUNE 1: The Mid-Ocean News names Premier Ewart Brown and a host of other Government MPs as being among the targets of a now-closed Police probe into corruption at the Bermuda Housing Corporation probe. Fresh allegations link construction boss and prospective Progressive Labour Party MP Zane DeSilva as being behind an attempt to ship 300 containers of asbestos waste to Cuba and rake in a $1.6 million profit. Initials on a rough business plan indicate ‘EB’ and ‘NB’ would get a five percent cut, or $100,000 each, on the deal — initials Police believed represented Ewart Brown and Nelson Bascome. Earlier that week ZBM had aired other extracts from the files which queried how prosecutors had handled the case. Police visit the Mid-Ocean News offices in the afternoon on the trail of the BHC Police files. In an address to the nation on TV that evening Premier Brown says the Mid-Ocean report defamed him and accuses Governor Sir. John Vereker of not doing enough to protect the files. Dr. Brown threatens to suspend dealings with the Governor if he doesn’t act to catch the leakers.

MONDAY JUNE 4: Police raid ZBM headquarters in Prospect and spent hours pouring over files and computers looking for the BHC documents but come up empty handed with Bermuda Broadcasting Company boss Rick Richardson saying it wasn’t surprising. He says: “We didn’t have the documents on the premises.”

WEDNESDAY JUNE 6: Government Senate leader David Burch calls on the Governor to hand over his constitutional responsibility for the Police in the best interests of Bermuda which sparks former Premier Alex Scott to fear the situation could spiral into a unilateral declaration of independence like in southern Rhodesia. The Opposition call for a Royal Commission into the handling of the BHC probe while the Premier refuses to answer questions about his stand-off with the Governor. The crisis sparks an outcry from the international press while Bermuda International Business Association CEO Cheryl Packwood said Dr. Brown risked jeopardising the Island’s reputation as an elite financial jurisdiction based on political stability.

THURSDAY JUNE 7:A truce is clinched between the Premier and Governor with an agreement to bring in Scotland Yard to investigate the leak of Police files.

However Government then goes on the attack by seeking an injunction to stop further media revelations from the BHC investigation.

FRIDAY JUNE 8:Government MP and former Housing Minister Nelson Bascome is charged with theft and corruption after being arrested the night before. Premier Ewart Brown says the development is a “human tragedy.”

TUESDAY JUNE 12: Michael Scott is named new Health Minister, replacing Mr. Bascome.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 13: Mr Bascome appears in court to deny two charges of stealing more than $75,000 through business dealings. However he was not required to enter a plea on a third charge - that of corruption during his time as minister as that matter will be dealt with by another court. Meanwhile Senator Burch publicly concedes defeat over his attempt to take over from the Governor in running the Police. That same day the injunction hearing starts at Supreme Court with media lawyer Saul Froomkin QC arguing gagging orders should not be made “to cover up wrongdoings” while Government-hired lawyer Delroy Duncan argues that the Police report was stolen and therefore a breach of confidence had been committed.

However further allegations are aired on websites popular all over the world as well as blogs originating on the Island which carry a letter from a person, dubbing himself “Son of the Soil, claiming to be responsible for the dissemination of the leaked BHC documents.

THURSDAY JUNE 14:Police arrest two men in connection with the leaked Bermuda Housing Corporation files. They are released two days later, on Police bail, without charge. Meanwhile an online petition for a Royal Commission into the BHC affair, started by the All Bermuda Congress, hits 1,596 signatures as Sen. Burch labels the idea a waste of time. At day two of the injunction hearing it emerges the original copy of the BHC dossier has gone missing and the Police have launched an international criminal investigation to find the mole.

MONDAY JUNE 18: Police raid the offices of the Auditor General and boxes are taken away. Mr. Dennis spends the night in custody and is released the following afternoon on bail after a further raid on his home.

Royal Gazette journalists are stopped by Police from observing that raid. The UBP brands his arrest a “witch hunt”, with the United Bermuda Party saying “things have gone too far”. Meanwhile Premier Brown and Government MP Nelson Bascome file writs against the Island’s media for libel and slander but fail in a bid to stop the injunction hearing until that case can be heard.