The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in the appeal of former bankers Melanie Tapper and Winston McKenzie.

They were convicted in April 2003 of conspiracy to defraud Kingston businessman Bentley Rose and his company, Benros Ltd, of a total of $7 million.

Tapper was convicted under the Larceny Act on one count of fraudulently causing $2 million to be paid out, while McKenzie was convicted of several charges.

They were both sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court to 18 months' imprisonment.

The court extended their bail Wednesday and said it would hand down its decision at an early date.

Dennis Morrison, QC, and attorneys-at-law Lloyd McFarlane and Carolyn Reid, who represented Tapper, and Ayisha Robb, of the law firm Rattray Patterson Rattray, argued that the resident magistrate speculated in arriving at her decision.

They have asked the court to find that the RM erred because no fraud was committed because the entire loan of $7 million was disbursed to pay out Rose's indebtedness.

Attorney-at-law Gayle Nelson, who represented the Crown, has asked the court not to disturb the RM's verdict.

Legal arguments began last week Monday and ended yesterday.

The appeal hearing was held up because the notes of evidence were not completed until November last year.

It is being alleged that the offences were committed when Tapper was general manager of Trafalgar Commercial Bank and McKenzie was a manager at the Workers Bank, now RBTT.