FRAUD ALLEGED

Northern Advocate, 24 October 1935, Page 11

FRAUD ALLEGED

POST OFFICE CASE big sum involved MAN AND WOMAN ON TRIAL, [Special to “Northern Advocate ”l AUCKLAND, This Day. The trial of Laul 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 yesterday. L au i Edward Din is arraigned on three charges of forging withdrawal slips and with' obtaining sums of £IBSO. £9OO and £IBOO 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 £IBSO 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, and with him Mr Winter, appeared for the Crown,

At the outset Mr Hubble asked his Honour to request the non-publication of the names of the three depositors whose accounts had been operated upon, or any details of the inner wonting methods of the bank. His Honour 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. Case for the Crown.

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 £IBSO on August 1. ' ■ •

Mr Hubble said unfortunately charges of forgery were not uncom,mon in the Courts. Such frauds were perpetrated at times by people cutside, but when trickery and fraud was resorted to by persons inside a bank the fraud was easy to do but hard to detect. Din was a cleric in the Post Office Savings Bank at Auckland from January to July 15 of this year, and he would have 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. Methods at Bank. ' 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 £IBSO purporting to be signed by a certain depositor was presented. After being subjected to the usual checking it was passed and a post office cheque on the Bank of New Zealand for £ 1850 was given. That same day at the Bank of New Zealand 1000 new Treasury £5 notes, the which noted, were issued, to 'two Of the bank’s tellers, The cheque for £IBSO 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' Karahgahape Road branch of the bank of New South Wales, where she purchased a draft for £SOO on the firm’s Sydney bank. Mrs Din paid the £SOO 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 60 £5 notes into six £SO notes, and Mrs rDin drafted another £SOO 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. On Wellington Wharf. 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 £3OOO. Din and his mother 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 £IBOO and £9OO 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 £I2OO, and had paid for the shares in cash. On July 11 Din opened a banking account with a deposit of £3OO, and two days later he deposited 1/ and withdrew £3OO.

The forging of the withdrawal slip for £IBOO 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 wquld be evidence to show that statement to be incorrect. Evidence is being called.