has a right to have its objections heard.

Lawyer for Sea Horse Betting Shop Mr. Christian Luthi, said that his client was opposed to Top Turf getting its licence back because it had failed to pay its share of taxes to the Bermuda Government.

Consequently, his client, as the only other betting shop on the Island, was at a disadvantage because Sea Horse was paying its share of taxes while Top Turf had not.

Top Turf lawyer Mr. Edward Bailey objected. He said that Mr. Luthi had no place in the proceedings because he was representing a competing business that had a stake in seeing Top Turf fail in its bid to renew its licence.

However, Senior Magistrate the Wor.a Will Francis on behalf of the betting licence panel, said Mr. Luthi did have a legitimate, material, interest in the proceedings.

Although he said there would be limits placed on those objections so as not to reopen areas that had already been covered during the trial in March and April.

"We, the last time, gave the applicant (Top Turf) an opportunity to put together a better management scheme and appoint an acceptable manager,'' Mr.

Francis said. "That is what this inquiry will be limited to.

"The management will include the experience and qualifications of the manager and the character of the directors and whether they have met the obligations they were to satisfy regarding the betting tax.

"We will allow Mr. Luthi to be heard on these issues as we do feel that they do have an interest in the reputation of the betting industry in Bermuda.'' Top Turf became the centre of a Ministry of Finance investigation because it allegedly attempted to avoid paying taxes using a home in Warwick to receive bets from Americans through a rented post box. Money was also allegedly deposited in an Antiguan bank.

At an earlier trial, the Betting Licence Authority gave Top Turf three months to allow it to come up with a better management scheme.

The panel was particularly troubled that Vincent Belboda, a manager and major shareholder, knew very little about what was going on and spent limited time on the premises.

The panel gave Top Turf until June 30 to find a suitable and experienced manager who could then come up with a scheme to settle the companies' affairs.

Yesterday, proposed manager Francis Grenardo took the stand and told the panel he had already met with the Government inspector and together they had prepared a full statement of the accounts from 1992 until March 1995.

Grenardo said he was aware of Top Turf's financial difficulties which included $137,000 in betting tax owed to the Government. But he said Top Turf was also owed between $22-28,000.

He said he was confident that he could create an effective set of arrangements to make Top Turf profitable again.

The case continues on Friday June 30. At that time both Crown counsel Mr.

Peter DeJulio and Sea Horse lawyer Mr. Luthi will cross examine Mr. Grenardo.

Senior Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun demanded and received a full apology from Top Turf lawyer Mr. Ed Bailey yesterday. Mr. Bailey had alleged that Mr.

Calhoun had reneged on a promise to check out Grenardo's resume in advance of a hearing on June 13. At that hearing the necessary checks had not been done and the case was adjourned.

Mr. Calhoun told the court that he had set the necessary wheels in motion as he had promised. Consequently, it was not his fault that Grenardo's resume had not been checked out. He asked Mr. Bailey to retract his inaccurate allegations and Mr. Bailey complied.