The Crown yesterday finished its case in the trial of a suspended civil servant and a taxi driver jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud -- over a year after the pair first appeared in court.

Former assistant director of Tourism Randy Horton, 52, and blue flag taxi driver Weldon Dowling, 50, were charged in April, 1996 in Magistrates' Court with conspiring to defraud the Accountant General between 1993 and 1995.

Horton, of North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish, who was suspended in July, 1995, pleaded not guilty as did Dowling, of Wellington Back Road, St. George's.

The Crown claims the pair filed invoices for work that was never done and as a consequence of their alleged wrongdoing netted a total of $720.

It is also alleged another $1,140 or $1,240 claimed for was not handed over.

Yesterday travel agency owner Karen Woolard and Puerto Rico Tourism Company's director of operations Enrique Raul Vila took the stand.

Ms Woolard, the owner of Ivory Isle Travel Ltd., told Senior Magistrate Will Francis that she and some of her staff had participated in familiarisation trips to the Island up until 1993.

Ms Woolard was shown a document dated March 29, 1995, which referred to the use of two taxis for a familiarisation visit by her firm between March 30 and April 1, 1995.

She said she had not arranged for a visit by her or any of her employees during that period and stressed that it was logistically impossible for one of her employees to be away then without her knowing.

Crown Counsel Phillip Storr showed Ms Woolard another document which was a business card of one of her associates which she said was obsolete.

Ms Woolard said her company had not used that type of business card for between six and eight years and her firm had not been at the address since December, 1993.

Under cross examination by Horton's lawyer, Julian Hall, Ms Woolard said she never met nor communicated with Horton and added that she was the person who dealt with the Tourism Department for her company.

She said Horton could have received her colleague's business card -- which was found in his desk -- at a trade show but not on a familiarisation trip.

And she stressed that if one of her employees visited Bermuda on either an authorised or an unauthorised trip then she would have known about it.

But she added that she would not know if a former employee claiming to represent Ivory Isle had made the same trip.

Mr. Vila told the court his company's function was to promote Puerto Rico to travel agents, airlines and wholesalers based in North America.

Mr. Storr showed him a document dated December 29, 1994, which referred to a sightseeing tour for a Val Perez of the Puerto Rico Tourist Authority on December 27.

He said he did not know the name but his firm had employed a Valerie Perez between July, 1990, and November, 1993 as the New York area's sales manager.

Mr. Vila said the company's employees visited countries on familiarisation trips that were competing destinations with Puerto Rico -- which Bermuda was not considered to be.