Government has failed to state how much the legal battle involving the $45 million house GoldenEye has cost because it fears embarrassment, an Opposition MP claimed yesterday.

Alan and Vera Rosa Marshall, the Bermudian owners of the house, challenged the Government over its ban on locals selling homes to foreigners in a Supreme Court case in February.

They claimed the policy scuppered their chances of selling GoldenEye as no one on the Island could afford the price tag of GoldenEye, which is believed to be the most expensive house on the Island.

Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Bell declared the ban unlawful in March, after having heard Solicitor General Wilhelm Bourne on behalf of the Government and Saul Froomkin, QC, for the Marshalls.

Minister Labour and Home Affairs Randy Horton then took the matter to the Court of Appeal, employing top British lawyer Jeffrey Jowell QC to fight the case. Professor Jowell announced on June 16 ? midway through the appeal hearing ? that the Minister was prepared to use his discretion to consider a future application from a foreigner to buy GoldenEye.

The appeal judges said they could not make a decision at that stage on whether the policy was lawful or not but ordered that the declaration of unlawfulness by Mr. Justice Bell should be "stayed", and the appeal adjourned until November. The matter of costs will also be discussed then.The Government reiterated after the appeal hearing that the policy still stood for other Bermudians and that it was intended to protect the Island's housing stock.

On June 28, Senate Opposition Leader Kim Swan tabled a series of Parliamentary questions to Attorney General Larry Mussenden. He asked how much the Government had paid or would be paying for the services of Prof. Jowell. He also asked what the policy is on employing outside counsel, and why it was decided to bring in Prof. Jowell for the appeal.

In answer, Mr. Mussenden said the final fees were not available because the case had been adjourned until November.

On the matter of hiring overseas counsel, he said: "There is no defined policy. However, the Attorney General will decide when it is in the public interest and the interest of the Government to engage the services of specialist counsel. That decision will be taken on a case by case basis."

He said the decision to hire Prof. Jowell for the GoldenEye appeal was taken "because of the complex legal issues involved in the case, which have important legal precedent for Bermuda generally".

Responding to this, Opposition House Leader John Barritt said: "The Attorney General did not answer the questions. As an attorney, I know that when you instruct counsel, particularly a QC in London, one of the first things you do is settle on a 'brief fee.' The Government know what that was. They are simply dodging the question, probably because it's going to be embarrassing to them."

Mr. Barritt added: "We suspect that the final figure is probably in six figures and probably comes close to matching the annual salary of the Solicitor General."understands that Mr. Bourne is currently paid in the region of $125,000 although a Government spokesperson was not in a position to confirm the exact figure by press time. asked Mr. Froomkin if his clients had found a buyer for GoldenEye, but he declined to comment.