Gazette can reveal.

For the Crown has lodged formal notice that they are deserting outstanding charges against two former top bank officials.

The news means former Bank of Bermuda senior loans officer Arnold Todd, cleared of six theft charges in November, 1996 after a marathon nine-week trial, will not have to go through a new trial on 11 charges the jury could not agree a verdict on.

And ex-Bank of Butterfield executive David Diggins will not go back to court to face a single charge of falsifying a loan form which resulted in a Gibraltar firm getting $2 million. A Supreme Court trial last year resulted in a hung jury.

Attorney General Elliott Mottley confirmed yesterday that he had decided not to proceed further with either case.

He said: "Mr. Todd will not have to face a retrial. Mr. Diggins is not being retried either.'' Mr. Todd -- believed to be now working as a substitute teacher at CedarBridge Academy -- originally faced a total of 17 charges of theft, fraud and false accounting involving around $1.2 million.

The offences were allegedly committed between 1985 and 1990, when he was a senior loans officer at the Bank of Bermuda.

It was claimed in Supreme Court that he submitted bogus loan applications and that he used several companies to hide a paper trail.

But the jury -- which had to be taken to a hotel overnight after marathon deliberations -- cleared him of six theft charges.

Eleven other charges of fraud and false accounting, however, were left on the books.

Three co-accused walked free after being cleared on all the charges they faced.

But Mr. Todd had to wait more than a year before the Attorney General decided not to go ahead with a retrial before a new jury.

It is understood, however, that Mr. Todd could still face a slew of civil suits from his former employer.

Mr. Todd last night declined to comment -- but Island lawyer Kim White, who appeared with top English barrister John Perry for Mr. Todd, said he was delighted at the news.

Mr. White said: "Our client is very happy that this ordeal is now over.

"He is very thankful for the friends and family who have stood by him during these long seven years.

"He now looks forward to the opportunity of getting on with his life.'' Mr. Diggins, an Englishman who had worked in Bermuda since 1992, is understood to have returned to the UK.