HUGE EMBEZZLEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 179, 29 July 1911, Page 17

HUGE EMBEZZLEMENTS.

GREAT TRIAL BEGUN IK PARIS,

'A' PRISONER'S ESCAPE.

The trial began In Paris on June 12 of Edmond Duez, the Government liquidator of the property of the religions orders, who Is accused of haying embezzled £400,000 of the sums obtained from the sale of clerical property which should have been handed to the French Treasury.

Duez, a. high-spirited and attractive rogue, iwho has confessed to his defalcations, was arrested in March of last year, and the intervening period has been occupied with the sifting and sorting of the mountain of documents with which he filled his office and concealed his crime.

Hie confidential clerk, Martin-Gautier, was arrested with him, and was as frank as his master. He related how, Jn convent gardens beautified with stolen money, he organised parties at which he entertained his women friends. They walked among the flowers in diaphanous garments, Gautier tasting, as it were, the. pleasures of a' twentieth-century Decameron. Some months after his arrest Gautier fell ill, and was released on bail of £1600. It only became known oil the day of the trial that he had disappeared, and there is apparently no clue to his whereabouts, though the "Matin , . , mentions a report that he is in hiding in the United States.

Duez is fifty-three years old, and began life as a clerk. In the early 'twenties he began to gamble ou the Brussels Bourse ami lost heavily. According to bis own account, he embezzled £25,000 from bis employer to pay his debts, though his employer at the preliminary inquiry vigorously denied that this was so. Duez lived lavishly, and when he was appointed receiver of church property was again heavily in debt. He proceeded to remedy this state of affairs by pocketing the proceeds of the .eales of churches, chapels, monasteries, convents, and other property. A chapel afterwards valued at £40,000 was entered In his books as worth tenpence. His accounts were found to contain such items as "Sundries £1100," "Personal expenses £3355," and •'Granted to various persons £4360." His own cpnfession was to the effect that ■he had stolen £200,000, but the amount is believed to be much greater. He kept up three sepaj-ate "!stablisbments in Paris, allowed his wife £1440 a year for household expenses and £800 for dress, and denied himself nothing in the way of luxu J ries. He alleged upon his arrest that he had tost every halfpenny of the stolen money in Stock Exchange speculations, but it was afterwards found that he had been heavily blackmailed by n woman, and that In a few nights at a seaside casino he lost £20,000 at baccarat.

Two alleged accomplices, Charles Breton and Henri Lefebvre, appeared In the dock with Duez. There is a list of 4300 qnestions for the jury to answer in determining the chief" prisoner's guilt. Duez, whose long black beard is now sprinkled with grey, appeared pale aria listless. He absolutely repudiated the very full confession he made' when arrested, and said that he musi have been mad at the time, though his madness was certainly methodical. The trial is expected to last ten days.

At the close of the first day's sitting Duez admit ted having appropriated £05,400 belonging to clients for the management of whose affairs ho was responsible;

Hemarkable revelations were made at the sitting on Wednesday of the spendthrift habits of Duez. An expert accountant who had investigated the books and papers testified that, according to his- reckoning, in eight and a-half years—namely,, from July -1001 to February, 1010—Duez had spent over £170,000, the following being the chief items:— Stock Exchange losses ..... £80,000 Commercial losses 12,000 Household expenses 40,000 • Lady friends 20,000 The prisoner's papers, however, the expert added, showed that his embezzlements amounted to more than £40,000 in excess of this sum. The suggestion is that Duez "was able to place this amount In safe keeping somewhere before he was arrested. The prisoner stoutly denied this Imputation, declaring that the experts have under-esti-mated his losses in speculation and exaggerated his embezzlements.