Health Minister Nelson Bascome must wait until September 23 to hear whether charges of stealing more than $60,000 will be dropped.

During a further hearing in the long-running trial yesterday, defence lawyer Charles Richardson branded the case as "Miss Piggy-sized hogwash" and urged Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to throw it out.

Bascome, 52, stands accused of stealing a bank loan intended to start up a business called the Natural Business Company by directing it into his own pockets instead over the course of 2003 and 2004.

The total amount he is alleged to have "converted to his own use" in two separate charges is more than $60,080.52. He denies any wrongdoing.

Senior Crown Counsel Paula Tyndale closed the prosecution case against Bascome earlier this month. Mr. Warner is now in the process of deciding whether it should continue with the defence case or whether – as Mr. Richardson claims – there is no case for the defendant to answer.

During lengthy legal arguments over three separate hearings this month, Mr. Richardson has claimed that Ms Tyndale failed to explain who the victim of the alleged theft is supposed to be.

The loan in question, he said, was a personal loan to Bascome which was secured on his property and for which he was the only person responsible for repayment.

Mr. Richardson said there was no evidence from Bascome's former business partner Robert Smith – who testified for the Crown – that he was the victim as he was not aware of the loan.

And, said Mr. Richardson, the bank has gone on record in a press release as saying that it does not consider itself to be the victim of a theft.

Ms Tyndale countered by stating that there is enough evidence against Bascome to pursue the case. She rejected the notion that the money was a personal loan and told Mr. Warner that the money belonged to the business, and should have been treated as such.

After quizzing both lawyers over their differing views on the legal issues involved, Mr. Warner announced the date for his ruling.