WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3: A ship’s manager has been fined $12,000 for illegally importing 100 gaming machines into Bermuda aboard a casino sip.

George Kezas, 75, from St. George’s, was found guilty by a magistrate in July 2007 along with the ship’s captain Fermin Reyes, 33, from Panama.

The vessel, Niobe Corinthian, was raided by Police in August 2006 when she was moored at Marginal Wharf, St. David’s. The officers seized the 100 slot machines on-board, with Reyes and Kezas later arrested.

They were charged with importing the machines or causing them to be imported, but maintained their innocence throughout their trial, which lasted almost a year due to numerous delays.

Their lawyers argued the ship was only in Bermuda in transit and it was not intended the machines should be used on the Island or in its waters.

Kezas said he was managing director and general manager of the ship “in title only” and had nothing to do with bringing it to Bermuda. Reyes said he had no idea it was against the law to bring the machines in.

Reyes was fined $15,000 by Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo in the immediate aftermath of the trial. However, Kezas was not sentenced until yesterday. His lawyer, Elizabeth Christopher, told Supreme Court last week that the delay was because Kezas was absent from Bermuda.

Fining Kezas today, Mr. Tokunbo said he was “equally culpable” as Captain Reyes.

However, he said, “the only distinguishing factor is he didn’t physically bring the machines into Bermuda on the ship”.

For that reason, he meted out a lower fine to Kezas. The $12,000 must be paid a week from Friday, or Kezas must serve five months in prison in default.

Lawyer Llewellyn Peniston, who has acted for the owners of the ship, Estrellas Management British Virgin Islands, said last week that the Niobe Corinthian has not operated for some time and remains moored in St. David’s.

The owners are hoping the new Government under Paula Cox will lift the restrictions that ban it from operating in Bermuda’s waters.