Attempts by the Attorney General and Police Commissioner to gag the media over a leaked Police dossier over the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) corruption allegations will be heard in the UK.

Their lawyer, Delroy Duncan, was this morning successful in persuading Bermuda's Court of Appeal to refer the matter to the Privy Council in London as a matter of "major public importance".

However, the media remains temporarily gagged until the appeal is heard which could take months.

Mr. Duncan argued this morning that the appeal would be rendered pointless if the media is not barred from making further revelations in the meantime.

Bermuda's broadcasting organisations and the Bermuda Sun have been banned by first the Supreme Court and later the Court of Appeal from reporting further material since the injunction proceedings were launched by the AG and Commissioner earlier this month.

The Court of Appeal panel - President Justice Edward Zacca, Sir Austin Ward and Gerald Nazareth - said they had no power to extend the order.

Meanwhile, the Mid-Ocean News and The Royal Gazettehave on a number of occasions agreed to extend a voluntary undertaking not to publish further extracts from the dossier.

However, Saul Froomkin QC, representing those newspapers, told the court this morning: "They are now in a position where they say they are not able or prepared to give an undertaking and if they are going to be prevented from publishing in the public interest, they want some court to tell them that."

However, Mr. Duncan then revealed that the Privy Council was in fact sitting in London simultaneously with this morning's Bermuda court hearing. Preliminary reports reaching The Royal Gazette are that it has banned all Bermuda's media organisations from publishing further material at this stage.

The court action was first initiated by Police Commissioner George Jackson and Attorney General Philip Perinchief earlier this month after ZBM and the Mid-Ocean News published extracts from the leaked Police file May 23 and June 1 respectively.

The leaked dossier - said to run to thousands of pages - reportedly revealed that Dr. Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith, former Minister Renee Webb and construction boss Zane DeSilva were investigated by Police looking into allegations of corruption at the BHC.

The court arguments which have gone in favour of the media in both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal have been between the need to protect confidential documents and the right of the media in democratic societies to report on serious allegations against public figures.

Dr. Brown has accused the Opposition of engineering the leak in a pre-election bid to destabilise his Government, and has initiated libel action against the media over published extracts from the dossier.

The Police investigation into the source of the leak has seen three arrests, but no charges. Two men were detained and released earlier this month. Auditor General Larry Dennis - the Government's fiscal watchdog - was arrested and released after 24 hours in custody last week.

* Read more on this story and further reports on the BHC issue in tomorrow's edition of The Royal Gazette.