BANK FRAUD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 170, 19 June 1936, Page 13

BANK FRAUD

TRANSACTION DESCRIBED. Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, June 18. “The police are entitled to congratulations for their prompitude and skill,” stated Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., this morning, when James Alexander Fleming, aged 26, a former bank employee, pleaded guilty to two charges of forgery, and was committed for sentence. The case was a sequel to the daring bank fraud on June C, accused being charged with forging a bill of exchange on the Bank of New Zealand at Wellington for £B3-1 16s Bd, and so with procuring a young woman to cause the bill to be nested upon. Alexander Chisholm, a teller, gave evidence that at 11.20 a.in. on June 6 a woman presented a bill purporting to be signed by the head of the bills department. The document also bore what puported to be the initials of the bank manager, with instructions to cash it. Shortly after the woman left witness became suspicious, and after inquiry reported to the police. Apublic typist, whose name, wa

suppressed, stated that on June 4 she received a letter through “Off letter-box which purported to be from one A. G. Spence. The envelope contained a pencilled letter, a pencilled bill of exchange, and a blank bill. Witness’s instructions were to type n letter from the pencilled one, type a blank bill from the pencilled one, and forward the completed work to Spence at the Post Office. Another young woman, a clerk attending a commercial college, stated that on June 5 the director of the college said he had given her name to a person applying for a clerk. Witness’s telephone number had been supplied to this person, and later a man calling himself Jenkins had telephoned her, telling her she was appointed to the position, and was to go to the Post Office for a letter. She did this, receiving papers and instructions to'cash the bill of exchange, put the money in an attache case, and deliver it at the office of a taxi firm with a letter. Witness cashed the bill and followed the instructions. The remainder of the evidence described how suspicion fell on accused, resulting in 1 iis arrest some hours later, when £774 was recovered in the attache case and £26 in the accused’s pockets.