MISSING FUNDS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 291, 4 September 1931, Page 10

MISSING FUNDS

London Bank in Colombia EXTRADITION MOVE Embezzlement Admitted BRITISH TRIAL URGED After being in custody since April 17 last, Duncan Stewart Reid, clerk, aged 28, came before Mr. E. Page, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday on extradition proceedings—the first to be heard in Wellington for a long time—involving an order for his extradition to the Republic of Colombia to answer charges of embezzling £2OOO from the London and South American Bank at Barranquilla. Mr. Leicester, appearing for Reid, admitted that there was a prima facie case for his client to answer, but told tho magistrate that he opposed extradition in order that Reid might be dealt with according to the principles of British justice. As one part of the defenco Mr. Leicester pointed out that under the Act it was necessary for an extradition requisition to be made within 30 days of the apprehension of an accused: this provision, he said, had not been complied with in the present case. Proceedings were adjourned until this morning to allow Mr. Macassey, who appeared for the Crown, to consider points raised by Mr. Leicester. Mr. Macassey said the application before the court was for an order of committal of Reid. Accused, it was understood, was a bank clerk employed by the London and South American Bank in Barranquilla, in the Republic of Colombia, and it was alleged that he had embezzled £2OOO. He had left Barrenquilla in February 25 last, caught the Port Hobart at Panama, and come on to Auckland. He had been arrested in Wellington after he had booked a passage to Sydney. Under the Act of 1908, Mr. Macassey said, it was provided that the Extradition Act of 1870 (Imperial) should be in force in New Zealand. There were several points on which the magistrate would have to be satisfied before he could grant the application, including those that the man accused was the man to whom the extradition order applied and that there was sufficient evidence to commit him for trial had the alleged offence been committed in New Zealand. . Embezzlement Admitted. Giving evidence, Detective Bayliss said that, acting under provision warrant, he had seen Reid on April 16 when he had made a statement admitting the embezzlement of about £2OOO during the time he was employed in the bank at Barranquilla. Replying to Mr. Leicester, witness said that Reid had been in custody since April 16 awaiting extradition. Witness had had no warrant for Reid's arrest from anyone in Colombia except that contained in extradition documents, which had been translated from the Spanish language. Mr. Macassey said he would put in the original telegram sent by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to the Governor-General of New Zealand, asking for the provisional detention of Reid. Evidence from Interpreter.Moris S. Merlin, in evidence, said he had been a major-general in the Imperial Russian Army and was now employed as an interpreter in the Wellington Post Office. He spoke twelve languages, including Spanish, and he had translated a number of the documents received from Colombia concerning Reid’s extradition. To Mr. Leicester witness said he had translated from original documents. He was cross-examined at length _on portion of his translation, involving the meaning of "it is stated” —whether an expression used in one of the documents meant that a certain thing was stated by the public generally or by the man who signed the document. Witness gave his opinion that the meaning was that the statement had been made by the man who signed the document. “I have no submissions to make that the evidence does not disclose an offence," Mr. Leicester said, addressing the Bench. "But I do submit that there is no warrant accepting a requisition for the extradition of Reid.” The magistrate said there were three statements in the documents that seemed to him to constitute a warrant. One was-to the effect that the Supreme Court of Colombia “decrees the preventitive detention” of Reid—that could only mean his arrest, his Worship said —and another was an expression ordering the provisional detention of Reid. Reason for Opposition. Mr. Leicester admitted there was a prima facie case against Reid, and said he did not oppose extradition in order that Reid might escape punishment; he onnosed it with a view that Reid _ ml aht escape trial in Barranquilla. _ Reid had said that he would not be tried according to principles of British justice. There was no gaol there and the police station was under the control of half-castes who, allegedly, were not paid regularly, 'with the result that prisoners received little food. Reid described the conditions there as terrible. “Reid is a British subject, Mr. Leicester said, “and he is entitled to be dealt with according to the principles of British justice.” .... Giving evidence, Reid said he had been in South America since 1923. and during that time he had acquired a knowledge of the language. Witness denied that the interpretation given the phrase It is stated” was quite correct. It meant It was stated” in a general sense. The case was adjourned till to-day.