The Niobe Corinthian casino ship will still operate from Bermuda in future with the blessing of the Attorney General — despite its captain and managing director being convicted of criminal offences.

That was the claim last night from lawyer Llewellyn Peniston, a vocal opponent of the Island’s anti-gambling laws, who acts for the owners of the vessel. He handed The Royal Gazette a letter from Attorney General Philip Perinchief, dated April 12 this year, in which the AG says: “I can see no problem with what you intend to do.”

According to Mr. Peniston, this was a response to a request from the ship owners to operate the ship from port in Bermuda in the same way as cruise ships — operating gaming machines once in international waters 12 miles offshore.

In the letter, addressed to Cheryl Albouy of Corinthian Ltd, the local company managing the ship on behalf of the owners, Mr. Perinchief warns that such gaming machines must be inoperative while within the jurisdiction of Bermuda, because they are banned from the Island.

It is this ban that led the Niobe Corinthian to be raided last summer while she was moored at Marginal Wharf in St. David’s. A total of 100 slot machines were seized by Police, and remain in the custody of the Crown. The vessel’s captain, Fermin Alfonso Reyes, and managing director, George Kezas, were yesterday convicted of illegally importing the machines. Reyes was fined $15,000 with Kezas to be sentenced later.

The legal action kicked off under the Premiership of Alex Scott, a strong critic of the>Niobe Corinthian who made it clear he did not want it using the Island as its home port. However, Mr. Peniston said of the recent letter from the AG: “This is the position requested some time ago, and only after the politics of the previous administration was removed, the issue at last was viewed with a more liberal perspective.”

Describing the prosecution of Kezas and Reyes as an “unnecessary saga,” he said the ship has remained at Marginal Wharf since last summer’s raid, and the owners still intend to operate it as a casino in international waters, sailing from Bermuda.

Mr. Peniston revealed the owners — who he refused to name — plan to circumvent the 2001 ban on importing gaming machines by using equipment brought in prior to that. He also criticised the current law as “a haphazard and conflicting piece of legislation,” commenting: “Gambling is legalised already in Bermuda. We have got betting shops offering cash prizes on the British Open (golf) at Carnoustie, we are shortly about to have two days of unbridled Crown and Anchor at Cup Match, right now on the television we have games of bingo for cash prizes. That’s the point I make about the hypocrisy.”

In the past, Mr. Peniston has argued that taxes on gambling could help Government pay for social programmes and said the Bermudian people should be able to choose whether to gamble or not.

However, former Police Inspector Nicholas Pedro offered a different view — while stressing that he was speaking in general terms and not about the Niobe Corinthian case.

“From a law enforcement perspective, gambling has always brought with it certain types of criminal activity, one of those being money laundering. Bermuda does not have the regulatory framework with which to monitor for that type of criminal activity ...”