Two leading businessmen who had been accused of stealing $145,000 from the development company Harbour Gardens more than a decade ago walked free from court yesterday. The magistrate ruled they had no case to answer.

Arthur Jones, the owner and director of the Island's biggest realtor, Coldwell Banker JW Bermuda Realty, and architect Fraser Butterworth, who was the president and secretary of the Institute of Bermuda Architects, were directors of Harbour Gardens Ltd., a company set up in 1995 to convert the pool wing of the former Palm Reef Hotel into nine townhouses worth between $570,000 and $660,000 each.

Both were arrested at their offices last May and later charged with conspiring with one another by deceit to defraud the unit holders of the Harbour Gardens Estate between January 1, 1995 and October 27, 1995.

They were also charged with stealing $145,000 on or about October 27, 1995 which was the property of the unit holders of Harbour Gardens Estate.

After presiding over a long-form preliminary inquiry, which including testimony by complainant Anne Spurling, Magistrate Justin Williams ruled yesterday that under the rules of section 16 of the Indictable Offences Act the evidence presented by the Crown did not set forth a case for the defendants to meet.

While he commended Crown counsel Nicole Smith for presenting the case on short notice, he told the courtroom that the Crown did not present any evidence to show that the $145,000 was the property of the unit holders of Harbour Gardens Estate. In fact, the acting magistrate said that there was no evidence that "the unit holders of Harbour Gardens Estate" were a legal entity.

He added that the Crown did not present evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that the defendants did not sincerely or reasonably believe that they were entitled to the money as fees.

The acting magistrate also said in his ruling that since most commercial disputes are based on differing views on each party's entitlement to property, he would risk setting a precedent by sending the case to trial in the higher court.

He said: "A finding that the evidence in this case might raise a possibility that a jury could convict beyond a reasonable doubt would risk potentially transforming many if not most commercial disputes regarding the control of a corporate property into criminal matters."