Premier Ewart Brown launched a stinging attack on the justice system after the Court of Appeal refused to gag the media over a leaked Police dossier on the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) corruption allegations.

The Police and Attorney General — who pressed for the reporting blackout — will today make a last ditch attempt to appeal the decision before the Privy Council, the highest possible court.

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.

According to a statement from Dr. Brown’s spokesman Glenn Jones, if the Privy Council bid fails to gag further publications: “Bermuda’s long standing supremacist oligarchy would be vested with legal license to intensify the ongoing UBP/media tyranny.”

The statement conveys the Premier’s anger at yesterday’s Court of Appeal verdict, which cemented a ruling by Chief Justice Richard Ground that freedom of the press to report on the BHC probe outweighs concern that the documents are confidential.

“This is a disappointing day for all Bermuda’s innocent citizens. Our judiciary has taught us confidential documents related to Police investigations are fit to print - even if the subjects of the investigation have been fully exonerated of criminal wrongdoing,” he said.

“The ruling seems grossly unfair and is a devastating blow to public confidence in the Police. Nonetheless the jurists have spoken and their determination, or the determination of a higher court, must be honoured because Bermuda is a country of laws and good order.”

According to Mr. Jones: “The Premier is convinced the publication of information from stolen confidential Police files, of an investigation that had concluded and closed five years ago, was conceived and executed by perpetrators as a public lynching of prominent targets in the current and past PLP administrations.

“The plotters patently set out to do a political hatchet job on the PLP leadership as the Party’s support was cresting with the celebration of Dame Lois Browne Evans’ life - at a time when UBP sources had predicted that a General Election would be called. The court was asked to adjudicate on the prevention of public access to stolen official documents in a despicable political plot in which lies, half truth and innuendoes had been thoroughly investigated.

“The Chief Justice’s ruling and the ruling today legitimates the publication of any and all allegations lodged with law enforcement agencies, whether factual or not, whether in execution of conspiracies to commit public mischief or not.”

Police Commissioner George Jackson and Attorney General Philip Perinchief launched the legal 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 Dr. Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith, former Minister Renée Webb and construction boss Zane DeSilva were investigated by Police looking into allegations of corruption at the BHC.

The Commissioner and Attorney General asked for a ban on the so-far unpublished sections being reported, although the contents were not revealed during the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal hearings. The Commissioner and Attorney General alleged during those proceedings that the dossier was stolen from Police custody, as has Dr. Brown in comments to the media.

However, the Chief Justice noted in his judgment that it is “not at all clear” whether documents have been removed from the possession of the Police with the intention of permanently depriving them, which could amount to theft, or whether the documents have simply been copied and released, which may not.

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.

The Premier’s spokesman said in his statement yesterday: “As Premier Brown has stated publicly, he is not overly concerned with protecting the information relating to him because he has been exhaustively investigated and fully exonerated in a probe conducted by the Bermuda Police Service, Scotland Yard and US Homeland Security.

“The Premier is more concerned about what it means for others who are persecuted in the press even though they were never prosecuted in court.”

Reacting to yesterday’s events, lawyer and PLP supporter Julian Hall said: “I would be stunned, absolutely surprised, if this matter doesn’t in due course end up before the Privy Council.”

Mr. Hall said the test for that decision is whether or not the case raises matters of law of substantial public importance, and he believes no-one can suggest otherwise. He estimated that if permission is granted for a Privy Council appeal, it could take a minimum of six months to be heard.

John Barritt, the United Bermuda Party’s spokesman on justice, said he felt the Premier’s comments “bordered on contempt of court bearing in mind the strong, intemperate language used to criticise both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal”.

He said the public should bear in mind comments made by the Chief Justice in his ruling about how freedom of the press is particularly important on matters concerning conduct in public office. “The United Bermuda Party would like the people to take note of the extraordinary lengths Government is going to in this matter, at extraordinary costs. Whose interests are they advancing now?” he asked, estimating the legal fees will head into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prominent lawyer Timothy Marshall dismissed the Premier’s comments as “nothing more than political propaganda designed to confuse Bermudians into believing that somehow the Court of Appeal judgment has hurt this country”.

Mr. Marshall said last night: “Access to information and freedom of the press are two of the greatest protections all Bermudians have against the potential excesses of whatever party happens to be in power.

“The public interest has been greatly protected by this judgment because it ensures that all Bermudians have the right to examine, ask questions about and debate the conduct, alleged or actual, of those individuals we elect to represent us.”

Editor of The Royal Gazette Bill Zuill said: “We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal has today upheld the Chief Justice’s ruling in a case that is of great public importance.

“Two courts consisting of four eminent judges have now upheld our position and we are disappointed, although not surprised, that the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police are now seeking to extend this process further by taking this matter to the Privy Council.

“I would add that there appears to be a fundamental, and I hope not deliberate, misunderstanding on the part of some concerning this case. In the initial hearing of this case, Chief Justice Richard Ground had to balance whether the right to freedom of expression over a matter of public interest concerning allegations against public officials overrode the right to confidentiality held, in this case, by the Police.

“He ruled in our favour on that point and we assume the Court of Appeal has now upheld that. The Chief Justice did not, and could not, rule on whether the documents had in fact been stolen, and it is wrong to keep stating that they were as if it was a matter of proven fact.

“It would also be quite wrong to suggest, as the Premier seems to today, that the recent decisions give rise to the inference that any and all other and all other Police investigations can now be made public as a matter of course. I do not believe this to be the case and I can only assume the Premier was not briefed by the Attorney General before he made that statement.”