The rebirth of businessman Llewellyn Peniston appears to be complete with news he is now fully able to practise as a lawyer.

Mr. Peniston's signature and that of Registrar Charles-Etta Simmons have been entered on the Supreme Court Registry's Roll of Barristers, meaning he can now practise before the Bar of any court in Bermuda.

The former United Bermuda Party Senator and shipping company owner left Bermuda in the early 1990s to pursue a law degree as lawyer Mark Diel, acting as Official Receiver for Mr. Peniston's creditors, closed in.

Mr. Peniston has refused to comment on the recent developments to The Royal Gazette .

Sources within the legal fraternity claim Mr. Peniston will start his own firm but that has not been confirmed.

President of the Bar Council -- the body that grants the practising certificate -- Richard Hector has confirmed both that it has been granted and that there was no opposition from other lawyers.

"Yes, the practising certificate has been applied for and as you know he was called to the Bar in chambers and he applied and it was granted,'' Mr. Hector said.

"No, there was no opposition to it,'' he added. "We would know if he was an undischarged bankrupt, because on the application you have to state whether or not you are.'' Mr. Peniston received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Buckingham and is believed to have completed a higher degree at the College of Law at Guilford, Surrey.

And Mr. Peniston also completed the Legal Practice Certificate "to the satisfaction'' of the Law Society of England and Wales where he was called to the Bar.

For nearly eight years from 1980, Mr. Peniston, 56, was a Senator for the then governing UBP before stepping down.

After breaking away from his longtime employer, he started his own shipping agents which got into financial trouble.

According to a prosecutor in the fraud case, he left Bermuda in 1995 to attend Buckingham University to study law just as Mr. Diel was about to question him on his financial affairs.

But his lawyer, Julian Hall, called Mr. Diel and prosecutors "bullies'' for pursuing the case, which was won on appeal.

Llewellyn Penniston