Bermuda with racial unrest at the company and its probe into colleague Mr.

Arnold Todd.

Shabazz is on trial in Supreme Court for stealing $121,000 from the bank while working as an assistant manager.

Full details of allegations against Mr. Todd have not yet been revealed, but the bank has claimed he stole millions of dollars.

He was suspended while a manager in December, 1990 and resigned the following February, a day after Shabazz left. Both men are black.

Shabazz, 44, denies stealing.

He told the court he resigned partly because of a "social climate'' in the bank. "Games'' were being played, he added.

"The bank was going through some very serious organisational problems. There was a black-white type situation that was erupting and people were getting ill at ease.

"It was a pretty unhealthy working environment at that time.

"As I analyse the events that have occurred over the last three years I am aware of information that leads me to believe that the bank had a game going on and I was included in that game.

"The informal organisation had predicted certain events in the bank and they all came true.

"People were gossiping and spying and doing all kinds of things at that time.

It largely, I guess, resulted from some investigations over some other individual who has not yet been brought before the court.'' Crown prosecutor Ms Sharon Kenny asked if Shabazz meant Mr. Todd, and he agreed.

He said he was friendly with Mr. Todd, but not a personal friend. "I felt, and I still feel, victimised,'' he added.

Shabazz, of Ord Road, Warwick, was lent $310,000 by the bank in 1988 to bring his debts under control. It was paid into his current account.

One of the reasons for the loan, says the bank, was to pay off his mortgage of about $141,000. But the bank discovered only $20,000 of it was paid on the mortgage.

Retired probation officer Alfred Augustus, a family friend, yesterday gave a character reference for Shabazz. "He has always displayed impeccable conduct,'' he told the court. "He has displayed a remarkable sense of honesty and dependability.'' But Ms Kenny, summing up her case, told the jury Shabazz had been evasive and hesitant in court, and seemed to have a selective memory.

"I am going to suggest to you that Mr. Shabbaz has lied to the Police, he lied to the bank, and he's lied to you. Ask yourself who has got the motive here to save his skin.'' Shabazz knew the loan money should have been used to pay off the mortgage, she said. Any other use meant stealing.

Mr. Ian Kawaley, defending, said the money belonged to Shabazz, so he couldn't have stolen it.

Even if it didn't belong to him, said Mr. Kawaley, Shabazz honestly and reasonably believed he was entitled to treat the money as his.

There had been no clear agreement that the loan was to be used to pay off the mortgage.

"It's not enough for you to be satisfied that Mr. Shabazz was in some general way dishonest in the way he handled the loan proceeds.'' Shabazz accepts he let the bank down, said Mr. Kawaley.

"He might be a slightly reckless businessman,'' he added. But it was quite clear that he was not a thief.

The trial is expected to end on Monday after summing up by the judge, the Hon.

Mr. Justice Ground.