WHOLESALE EMBEZZLEMENT BY AN EX-MINISTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12609, 25 June 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

WHOLESALE EMBEZZLEMENT BY AN EX-MINISTER

AMAZING REVELATIONS. Home, May 5.— for many years has such a sensational scandal : 'been repealed as that published in the special editions of the evening: papers— the finding of the ; Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into > the allegations of /wholesale embezzlement against Signor' Nasi, a former Minister of Education. .;>■■ He had long ago been accused by the Socialists of ■ appropriating to his private use large sums of money from the. funds of the Ministry. The report of the committee entirely justifies the charges, and brings *to light many other; scandalous acts of malversation committed by the ox-Minister. ; During his 26 months of office Signor Nasi charged just over £3000 for travelling expenses, although Cabinet Ministers have free passes on all the railways. Ho also made a present of £40 to his gardener, and entered iti n the books as..' Encouragement of agriculture." V Twelve thousand pounds was set down as having been spent in pensions for widows and orphans of teachers, but the majority of the persons who signed the receipt* cannot be found,; and the signatures are identical in scores of cases. ■■'l~ • '■■"• .■".'■; ■-■■■'. ~ Signor .Nasi further, paid £16 to a wet nurse, which he also entered as " Encouragement of agriculture." A sum of £500 was spout in packing-cases and expenses of carriage, and the inquiry shows that these ."cases" included valuable works of art, etc., which were sent to Trapani, the Minister's own township. Signor Lombardo, the Minister's private secretary, charged nearly £500. for expenses entailed in correspondence, which, as a member of Parliament wittily remarks, makes him " the greatest man of letters of tho age." 'One of the most serious points in the report is the confirmation of the reported defiei* of £20,000 in the funds appropriated to the Naples Museum, the contents of which were recently rearranged at great expense. Signor Nasi also obtained for himself some magnificent vases and works of sculpture excavated during his term of office. At this afternoon's sitting the report was meson ted to Parliament with the demand for the "arrest of the delinquent member. Rumours were spread abroad this evening, and are apparently authentic, that the disgraced Minister, suspecting the contents of the report, fled from "Rome. . ! - V ' - Certain it is that, when he- found that his accusers were determined to give him no mercy, ho tried by every means to shift the blame from himself, accusing in :■ turn his secretary, members of the Ministry,? and even the late Signor. Zanardelli. A warrant has been out for some time against Signor Lombardo, who, however, remains at large, although his whereabouts is reported daily in the papers, which gives rise to allegations of connivance against the police. :