of $62,000 in rent owed to its landlord, Brunswick Company.

Last night, the club's majority owner Mr. Kenneth DeFontes was making a last-ditch attempt to come up with the cash to save his business.

In another dramatic move, missing Scandal director Mr. Michael Haegele called The Royal Gazette to deny allegations that he had stolen $500,000 from the business.

Nobody had heard from Mr. Haegele since he fled Bermuda almost two years ago, leaving behind a trail of debts.

Calling collect from the US, he said: "I've never taken a single penny from the nightclub.'' Mr. Haegele, who owns 40 percent of Scandal, added: "If I'm supposed to have taken half a million why don't they go to the Police.

"I will come back to Bermuda and face the music if anyone can prove that I have defrauded the club.'' Creditors allege that certain financial information has gone missing, making it impossible to back up their suspicions.

But Mr. DeFontes said: "When we compare what the club took while Mr. Haegele was running it and what has been put in the bank, there's a helluva big difference.'' In its heyday during the summer of 1990, the club was raking in $120,000 per month, he said, although this rosy picture was disputed by Mr. Haegele. Mr.

Haegele, who ran the club, claimed it was doing so badly that he did not take a salary for one and a half years.

He also denied that he had run up gambling debts, either locally or in Atlantic City casinos, as has been alleged by business associates.

"I've been to Atlantic City and I like to gamble but people are putting two and two together and making five,'' he said.

But local bookmaker Mr. Eddy DeMello, who owns Top Turf Enterprises, alleged: "I'm owed $12,000 by Mr. Haegele for bets he placed, mostly on horse racing.

I would like my money.'' German-born Mr. Haegele, who at one time owned the Hog Penny and Fishermen's Reef restaurants, said he fled Bermuda in the summer of 1991 so he could rebuild his wealth.

"It was the only way I could hope to pay my bills,'' he said. "Being an expatriate in Bermuda, there was nowhere I could get a job on the Island.

He would not reveal where he was calling from in the US, but added: "I'm returning to Germany in a few days to see if I can get myself set up again.'' Over the last eight months, Supreme Court has made two awards totalling $259,318 against Mr. Haegele personally.

Another two awards totalling $98,000 have been made against Inter-Rest Management, the company through which Mr. Haegele and Mr. DeFontes own Scandal.

A spokesman for Brunswick Company said: "Scandal has not paid us any rent since last summer. We extended them some leeway but now we have no choice but to act. They seem to have taken care of all the other creditors but not us.''