Former opposition leader Wayne Furbert yesterday had a long-running civil case against him thrown out of court. Mr. Furbert had been brought to court by his former contractor, Eustace Floyd Forth, of F2 Property Management over allegations he owed Mr. Forth $130,543.77.

The case was dismissed yesterday afternoon by Puisne Judge Geoffrey Bell after Mr. Furbert's lawyer, Edward Bailey, noted there were many duplicate charges in Mr. Forth's invoices.

Mr. Forth was ordered to pay Mr. Furbert's legal fees.

The United Bermuda Party politician spoke to this newspaper directly after the trial and said: "It was an attack on my personal life. It has been going on for a year.

"We explained to his lawyer all he has to do is show the deductions and adjustments. He could have showed that and worked it out."

Mr Furbert continued: "The first time in court his lawyer insinuated I had defrauded the bank. The Royal Gazette article damaged my career.

"It's unfortunate because I believe it was one of the reasons I lost leadership of the party because I stood on credibility. Now I've been vindicated but where do I go from here? Now it comes down to he owes me money and what will the headline be tomorrow? 'Wayne's been vindicated' somewhere on page three or four."

Mr. Furbert said he believed documents were leaked to the press and said the press knew it had destroyed his credibility. Mr. Bailey said he was happy his client had been vindicated. "I'm glad for him because this put a lot of strain on him for the past year. Unfortunately we feel ulterior motives may have been mischievous and malicious."

In Supreme Court yesterday, there were disputes over what Mr. Furbert actually owed Mr. Forth.

The amount started at $77,573 and was whittled down to $35,126.90 which was later thrown out altogether because Mr. Forth could not distinguish between what bills he paid and what bills Mr. Furbert paid.

The key amount of money, $63,256, had been put at least three times in invoices and summary payments causing Mr. Justice Bell to dismiss the case.

Mr. Forth, of Ferrar's Lane, Pembroke, alleged Mr. Furbert hired him as a contractor to add on to his Brown Estates Road, Hamilton Parish home.

He claimed the MP owed him more than $80,000 for work done on his home and an additional $50,000 he had borrowed to pay architects and other people.

Mr. Forth also alleged Mr. Furbert got him to sign a fixed-price contract for the construction work at his house in order to get funding for Capital G Bank Limited. The trial began in January but was adjourned numerous times.