The manager of the Niobe Corinthian casino ship, on trial for alleged importation of gaming machines, has protested his innocence in court.

George Kezas, 72, said he was employed by the ship's owners, Corinthian Ltd, to handle marketing if and when it was deemed that the ship could operate legally in international waters, arriving and leaving from Bermuda.

As a professional musician, Kezas said he also planned to provide entertainment aboard the vessel.

However, he stressed, the ship was not operating in this manner, and was considered to be a passenger ship in transit during its trip to Bermuda last summer when it was raided by the Police.

The officers who conducted the raid at Marginal Wharf, St. David's, on August 11, seized 100 slot machines, the trial has previously heard.

The ship's Panamanian captain, Fermin Alfonso Reyes, 30, was arrested that day and is now a co-defendant along with Kezas on the importation charge.

Kezas was detained two days later after Police searched his home in Lily Park Lane, St. George's.

Quizzed by his lawyer Kevin Bean yesterday, Kezas told the court he was not involved in the set-up of Corinthian Limited as a legal entity, and is not a share holder in the company.

He said he had made communications on behalf of the company when the owners instructed him to do so, liasing with a Miami ship insurance company and the BLDC re docking and wharfage for the vessel in mid-2006.

He also told the court he was informed in an e-mail from the ship owners in July 2006 that they intended to bring it to Bermuda from Santa Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. It arrived on July 24.

Kezas told the court he assumed the machines would be on board as the vessel headed to Bermuda, but he had nothing whatsoever to do with them once they arrived.

He said he did not believe an importation offence was committed because they were not landed, and said he had not caused the machines to come to Bermuda.

"I might add, I don't gamble," he told the court, explaining that he did not know how to operate the machines.

Asked about a badge seized during the ship raid bearing words to the effect of "Welcome to Bermuda. George Kezas. Good luck," he said he had seen it but never worn it.

He also spoke of how he was "very upset and shook up" by the Police raid on his home.

In answer to cross-examination from Senior Crown Counsel Carrington Mahoney, Kezas said he was manager for the vessel in "title only".

He named the owners of Corinthian Ltd. as Estrellas Management Ltd.

The trial has been adjourned numerous times since it began last September.It has previously heard both Mr. Bean, and Reyes' lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, argue that the machines were never intended to leave the ship, or to be used in Bermuda or its territorial waters.

The case is scheduled to continue in July.