CONSPIRACY CASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 September 1927, Page 8

CONSPIRACY CASE

BANKNOTES IN SALMON.

.... k ~ ... eu /-.>,■■ A disclosure that money for the payment, of members, of the Russian Volunteer Fle.et was sent to Paris,in parcels of smoked salmon w.43 made, at the Old, Bailey* in London , recently, when,, after, a. trial.,which lasted seven days, Alexander Gabriel S.okolojL aged 36; a financial agent, and William James Mulcaster.rßell, aged 39, an accountant, were found guilty of conspiring to obtain valuable securities, shares, and large sums of money from the London Steamship and, t Trading Corporation, Ltd. .Thp Common Sergeant sentenced Sokoloff to 20 months’ imprisonment in the second division. Bell was bound over. / i. ;

Mr Percival Clarke, prosecuting, said that the business of the London Steamship and Trading Corporation, which was registered in 1920 with a nominal capital ,of £25,000, was to charter ships for the Russian Volunteer Fleet. Bell was appointed secretary and Sokoloff manager. In 1923 a meeting of directors expressed disapproval of the way the two men had conducted the affairs of the company. Sokoloff was dismissed and Bell left. Sokoloff was made bankrupt, and the company made,claims against him amounting, to £35,975., The- claim was founded on, book entries. of payments,!of. commission,/ to a,, man named ; Sotoff, which, .it was. alleged, were.false and fraudulent. Sptoff was a - Russian? who, after .fighting in tire Wfiito -.Army ‘ against, the. Bolsheviks, went to England in ,1920 as a refugee. He was asked to sign a number of receipt forms in blank, which were afterwards filled in for thousands of pounds by Sokoloff and Bell. All Soto ff received was froom £2 to £3 a week. , zlt : *;>>,

Solokpff,. in .the witness box, said that he came to. England., from Russia in 1,915, aijd was engaged in obtaining munitions for the Russian Army. The London Steamship and Trading Corporation was formed to take over ships from the Russia /Volunteer Fleet and he collected large sums from various Governments-on commission. Large payments were made to. members? of the Russian Volunteer Fleet, which ;could :> not. be shown, in the books for fear;,of causing trouble.be-tween.-the ‘White’’ and. the “Reds,”: Solokoff said .that on ono occasion two* parcels? of smoked, salmon - were -sent? to members in .Paris, and. each parcel contained, £4oo,in.banknotes, in ad-, dition to a pound of salmon. '