BANK FRAUDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 251, 23 October 1935, Page 8

BANK FRAUDS.

DIN TRIAL OPENS.

WITHDRAWAL SLIPS. MOTHER AND SON CHARGED. ALLEGED FALSE PRETENCES. The trial of Lnul Edward Din, a clerk, aged 23, and his mother, Madeline Elizabeth Din, which is expected to occupy at least two days, was begun before Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court this morning. Laul Edward Din is arraigned on three charges of forging withdrawal slips and with obtaining sums of £1850, £900 and £1800 from the Auckland Post Office Savings Bank by means of a false pretence. Mrs. Din figures in only one charge, being joined with her son on the charge of obtaining £1850 by means of a false pretence. The two accused pleaded not guilty, Laul Din being represented by Mr. R. Moody -and Mr. Kingston, and Mrs. Din by Mr. G'. P. Finlay. Mr. V. N. Hubble, ami with him Mr. Winter, appeared for the Crown.

At the outset Mr. Hubble asked his Honor to request the non-publication of the names of the three depositors whose accounts had been operated upon, or any details of the inner working methods of the bank.

His Honor said the request was a reasonable one, as. the private affairs of the depositors were not of public interest, nor were the methods of the inner workings of the bank. He asked the Press to meet the request. Crown's Case Outlined. In outlining the Crown's case to the jury Mr. Hubble said the alleged offences took place in the months of April, July and August of this year, and the total sum 'obtained from the Auckland Post Office Savings Bank was £4550, but the female accused was only charged with being a party to the obtaining of £1850 on August 1.

Mr. Hubble said unfortunately charges of forgery were not uncommon in the Courts. Such frauds were perpetrated at times by people outside, but when trickery and fraud was resorted to by persons inside a bank the fraud was easv to do but hard to detect. Din was a clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank at Auckland from January to July 15 of this year, and he would, ha.ve access to all the ledger accounts, specimen signatures, the protectograph and opportunity to see bank pass books of depositors.

In all three instances in which it was alleged that forged withdrawal slips had been presented it would be shown, said Mr. Hubble, that the signatures were forgeries, and that the money had not been drawn by or with the authority of the depositors whose accounts were operated upon. Savings Bank Methods. Mr. Hubble dealt in detail with the methods employed at the Post Office Savings Bank, and said that on August 1 a withdrawal slip for £ISSO purporting to be signed by a certain depositor was presented. After being subjected to the usual checking it was jKissed'and a post office cheque on the Bank of New Zealand for £1850 was given. That same day at ths Bank of New .Zealand 1000 new Treasury £5 notes, the number's of which were noted, were issued to two of the bank's tellers. The cheque for £1850 was paid by the Post Office Savings Bank shortly after 2 p.m. and a little later it was cashed by the male accused at the Bank of New Zealand. He was paid 300 new £5 notes and £350 in old notes. With the accused- was a middle-aged woman whom the .teller at the bank could not identify. The same afternoon the accused, Mrs. Din, appeared at the Karangahape Road branch of the bank of New South Wales, where she purchased va draft for £500 on the firm's Sydney bank. Mrs. Din paid the £500 in £5 notes, which were'part of the notes Din. had been paid earlier, at the Bank of New Zealand. Din, together with his sister, and their mother, then motored to Wellington, said Mr. Hubble, and on arrival there the motor car was sold. Din at one of the banks, changed GO £5 notes into six £50 notes, and Mrs. Din drafted another £500 to Sydney paying in £5 notes, again portion of the notes which had been paid to Din at the Bank of New Zealand at Auckland. About to Sail for Sydney. At Wellington on August 3, Din, his mother and sister, were accosted on the Wellington wharf by Detective Robinson. They were about to sail for Sydney, and in their possession were bank drafts and cash to the value of over £3000. Din and his in ather were arrested.

The possession of such a lot of money by the accused led the police to make further inquiries,, and two more forgeries were found to have been perpetrated upon the Auckland Post Office Savings Bank; and sums of £1800 and £900 obtained. These forgeries had been committed in April and July. -It was learned* that Din, who in April had' only a credit of 18/ in his bank account, had in May gone to Christchurch and purchased shares in a business there for £1200, and had paid for. the shares in cash. On July 11 Din opened a banking account with a deposit of £300, and two days later he deposited 1/ and withdrew £300.

The forging of the withdrawal slip for £1800 and the cashing of the P.O. Savings Bank cheque for the amount were traversed by Mr. Hubble, who said that there would be ample evidence to show that prior to the forgeries the accused had little or no money. He had informed the police that the money he handled was received from his father, but there would be evidence to show that statement to be incorrect. . Evidence is being called.