Madame Hanau Baffles Police

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6834, 15 April 1932, Page 7

Madame Hanau Baffles Police

Secret Report Printed DOCUMENTS DISAPPEAR FROM FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER’S DESK United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. PARIS, April 13. The frcsli Hanau affair is Developing into a first-class mystery. The police officials and Ministry of Finance are baffled as to how the documents disanneared from the drawer of M. Flandin’s desk, of which he alone lias the key. One of the documents was a secret police report about Madame’s activities which she printed in the copy of “Forces,” which the police suppressed.

In pursuance of their search, the police demanded that the directors of the Bank where Madame deposited the papers open the safe or hand over the keys. The directors refusing, the police called in locksmiths, who, after three hours, opened the safe by means of an oxy-acetylcne plant.

As she was believed to be about to publish in her financial weekly paper “Forces,” details from a secret, document lost from the office of the Finance Minister, M. Flandin, the police arrest od the famous Madame Hanau on a. charge of theft, of public documents. She is also accused of attempting lo depress the stock exchange by articles professing to expose the real motive behind M. Tnrdieu’s Danube plan. It, is recalled that Madame Hanau was charged with fraud in connection with her “Gazette Du Franco” and was sentenced to two years. She had already served IS months in prison and was released when she H' l "ed an appeal which was pending. The confiscated issue of “Forces” is said to allege that the Tardieu plan aims at securing loans for the Danube States for the purpose of enriching French armament manufacturers.

Madame Hanau first came under the notice of the police many years ago when she robbed investors of many hundreds of thousands of francs by means of fraudulent company promotion and worthless securities.