series of withdrawals from the late Percy Ball's trust account in 1991, a jury heard yesterday.

Mr. Michael Pert QC made this assertion during his hour and a half long final speech yesterday.

He said that Vaucrosson's office account was in serious trouble and he was unable to pay his staff.

"If you decide these cheques were written under Vaucrosson's instruction then they amount to stealing,'' Mr. Pert said.

"There have been frequent shifts of direction and frequent shifts of tact but the main question to be answered is whether or not there was an investment in Amulion.'' Mr. Pert said that one strand of the defence case was the suggestion that Conor Griffin, the lawyer handling the Ball estate in 1991, had said to Vaucrosson that the beneficiaries had their permission to invest the Ball money in Amulion.

However when Griffin gave his evidence during the trial he denied that he was given this permission by the beneficiaries or that he suggested to Vaucrosson that he had been given this permission.

The defence never "contradicted these central and fundamental assertions,'' Mr. Pert added.

"If he had been given the decent and fair chance to answer, you may have found that he (Griffin) was lying but you were deprived of hearing his side.'' Mr. Pert said that although Steven Gibbons has been "cast as an ogre'' in the case it was Gibbons who refused to sign a cheque for $50,000 to the Bank of Bermuda when he discovered that there was something wrong.

"There has been a lot of nudge nudge innuendo in this trial. What is the significance of (Gibbons) being the financial controller for Hall and Associates? "He has been demonised without anything being put fairly to him.'' Moreover Mr. Pert said that Hall's name had been bandied about at considerable length during the trial as if there were something untoward about his dealings with the accused.

But when Hall was on the stand Mr. Pert pointed out, the defence chose not to ask him any questions.

"The plain simple fact is that (Hall) admitted that he owes a lot of money.'' Mr. Pert said that each cheque written -- $50,452.10, $31,000, $151,750, $15,859.35, $70,000, $40,463 and $9,000 -- were all prepared on Vaucrosson's instructions because he was the only person who benefited from the payments.

By March 1, 1991 he said only $25,258 remained in the account and was transferred to Amulion because the rest had been withdrawn to pay Vaucrosson's pre-existing debts.

The jury is expected to be deliberating on Monday afternoon after Pusine Judge Mrs. Justice Wade summarises the case and gives directions on the law.

Vaucrosson, of North Shore Road, Pembroke, is accused of stealing more than $300,000 from the beneficiaries of Ball's trust fund. Ball was a journalist at the Bermuda Broadcasting Company.

Of the nine charges, the first eight relate to Vaucrosson acting for Ball's estate between an unknown time and February 1 and March 1, 1991.

It is alleged that he stole money -- ranging in amounts from $9,000 to $151,750 from the beneficiaries of the estate.

And the ninth charge alleges that he fraudulently disposed of the trust property -- some $393,782.58 -- and committed it to uses other than those authorised by the trust.

Mr. Pert QC is being assisted by Mr. James Candlin. Ms Patricia Harvey and Mr.

Michael Scott are assisting Jamaican QC Mr. Frank Phipps for the defence.