ALLEGED BIG FRAUD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19838, 7 January 1928, Page 14

ALLEGED BIG FRAUD.

TRANSACTIONS IN BONOS. ' ' A MYSTERIOUS "MR. X." I PRIVILEGES FOR PRISONER, [FROM OUH OWN COEKESPONDENT.] LONDON, Nov. 25. A year or two ago a lot of thousandfranc notes were forged in Hungary with the object of placing a certain archduke on the throne. A chief of police and some people of rank went to prison over the affair. The latest story of crime is also concerned with Central Europe and Paris, and it is alleged that the profits amount to £10,000,000.

The method adopted by ten alleged conspirators who have been arrested was to smuggle pre-war bonds out of their country of origin. Dealings in these bonds within the country of issue are upon a paper currency basis, but elsewhere they a;:o negotiated on a gold basis. The allegation is that the documents ■were fraudulently endorsed in Paris with the stamps of French and English banks and that they were thus defJt with in a gold currency, making them worth much more than the paper money originally paid for them. The tenth prisoner has been called "Mr. X," for this is the entry that has been put against him in the records of the Santo Prison. The ordinary officials at the Saiite Prison do not know the identity of "Mr. X," though they have orders to treat him as a person of mark. The detectivo department says it will make his name known on Tuesday. Meanwhile, it is whispered that ho is a high official closely in touch with a former Cabinet Minister.

Tho mysterious man was taken secretly to the Surete Generale—the French Scotland Yard —last Friday afternoon and closely questioned. He left there after dark escorted by two detectives. All that onlookers could see was that he was a short, thick-set man, apparently about 40, and that he was dressed in a smart light grey lounge suit. He hid his face behind his felt hat as he stepped into the waiting motor-car, in which he was driven to the tjante Prison, where Jie passed the night guarded by two detectives:.

No sooner was "Mr. XV cell allotted to him than another prisoner was instructed to clean it out, bring fresh bedlinen, and carefully make the unknown prisoner's bed. A prisoner ordinarily has to do these things himself. Instead of being served with the usual prison fare, .two warders went out at dinner time to fetch a specially ordered meal from a neighbouring restaurant. This was served with half a bottle of wine, coffee and liqueurs. It appears that the arrest was made only after a long consultation between the heads of the detective department and the j. magistrates in charge of the investigation >1 of the case.