Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva and his senior officers are believed to be planning a move into rented offices in Hamilton opposite the new $92 million police and court building.

The fourth floor of Veritas Place, at 65 Court Street, is being fitted out for the purpose at a cost of almost $290,000 by LLC Bermuda Ltd the same firm working on the over budget development across the road. Mr DeSilva and his senior command team are currently based at police headquarters in Prospect. The Commissioner would not comment on the move yesterday, referring

The Royal Gazette to the Ministry of Public Works.

Works Minister Derrick Burgess said a year ago it was never the plan to house the command team in the new police and court building, which is due to open early next year five months behind schedule and almost $14 million over budget. He indicated that the senior officers were likely to stay at Prospect and that the facility would be given some “much needed improvement”.

Mr Burgess also said late last year that Government wanted to cut the $12 million it was spending annually on renting expensive private-sector office space in the City of Hamilton.

There have been no announcements on plans to move the senior police team this year and questions sent to the Ministry late yesterday afternoon weren't answered by press time.

But a notice published in the Official Gazette when the $287,304 contract was awarded to LLC Bermuda stated it was for the “interior fit out of the fourth floor of Veritas Place...for the senior command of the Bermuda Police Service”.

Former Cabinet Minister and lawyer Arthur Hodgson told this newspaper he represented the owners of the six-storey Veritas Place.

He said the owners did not want to reveal their identity or comment. “At some point they are proposing to say something about their building but at this point it is a work in progress,” added Mr Hodgson.

The Royal Gazette visited the property, next to the old Bermuda Recorder building, late yesterday afternoon.

The fourth floor was lit up but the rest of the building was in darkness and the ground floor looked unfinished and uninhabited.

This newspaper revealed in 2009 that LLC Bermuda was set up to replace the original police and court building contractors Landmark Lisgar Construction Ltd, after Canadian partners Lisgar left.

Documents seen at the time showed a substantial proportion of the shares in LLC Bermuda 3,900 out of the 10,000 total were held in a trust shielding the names of its beneficiaries.