BANK SCANDAL ECHO.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 77, 31 March 1928, Page 9

BANK SCANDAL ECHO.

Sentences For Corruption And Fraud. OLD GERMAN CASE. (Received 10 a.m.) BERLIN, March 30. The Prussian State Bank case has again been revived by the conclusion of the trial of the three Barmat brothers, Julius, Solomon, and Hermann, who were alleged to have obtained credits totalling £750,000 during the inflation period by corrupting the officials of the bank. It is now three years since the Barmats were first arrested on charges of fraud, while nine other persons were accused of bribery and fraud in connection with the ease.

Julius was found guilty In two cases of corruption and has been sentenced to eleven months imprisonment, while Hermann, found guilty on one count, has received a similar sentence. Dr. Hellwig, an ex-director of the Prussian State Bank, has been sentenced to six weeks' Imprisonment.

Towards the end of the year 1924 allegations againpt the Prussian State Bank were the subject of a national (scandal. The brothers Barmat were alleged to have obtained large credits by bribery and corruption of officials. The Reichstag then appointed a special committee to inquire into the charges which the "Times" Characterised as "an orgy of mud-slinging. Implicated in the scandal were Herr Holfe, who had been a Cabinet Minister in 1923, and the then President, Herr Ebert, who was alleged to have given interviews to the Barma'ts, who were shown to have had unusual privileges as regards passports. The report of the comr mittee of inquiry toned down everything and whitewashed most of those charged except the brothers Barmat, who had been arrested long before by a force of armed policemen and later remanded on bail.