Former Minister Nelson Bascome must wait until December for his trial on $75,000 theft charges. The delay in hearing the matters, with which the MP was charged on June 7, was criticised by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner yesterday.

"This is really unacceptable. There's no way that someone should have to wait six months for a trial, or even four months," he chided prosecution and defence representatives.

Bascome, 52, the MP for Pembroke East Central, is accused in the first charge he faces of stealing $56,000 entrusted to him by the Bank of Bermuda for business purposes between September 2003 and February 2004.

In the second charge, he is accused of stealing $20,000 from the Natural Business Company, of which he was a director, in March 2004. He pleaded not guilty to both at a previous court appearance.

The delay in hearing the trial has been caused by the busy schedules of Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale and defence lawyer Victoria Pearman, who have other commitments in the Supreme Court, and problems with the availability of a key Crown witness.

The matter was scheduled to get underway yesterday morning, but Ms Pearman was unable to attend due to a family emergency. Listing the trial for December 3, Mr. Warner told Ms Tyndale and Charles Richardson ¿ who was standing in for Ms Pearman ¿ that barring unforeseen circumstances, he is determined it will start on that date.

In addition to the theft matter, Bascome faces a separate charge of corruption in a position of public office.

This relates to his period as Health and Family Services Minister with responsibility for housing during the late 1990s.

The allegation is that he corruptly obtained a business opportunity relating to the invention of a water filtration system. Prosecutors claim that in his role as Minister, he secured public housing for the filtration system inventor Robert Smith between November 1998 and December 1999. Bascome has not yet entered a plea on this charge, which has been earmarked as a matter to be heard by the Supreme Court. Mr. Warner heard details of the case against him last week in Magistrates' Court, and will make a ruling on whether the matter should be formally committed to the higher court at a later date.

Bascome stepped down from his second spell as Health Minister in February when a file on him was passed by Police to the Department of Public Prosecutions. He is on bail.