FURTHER EVIDENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21467, 15 April 1933, Page 9

FURTHER EVIDENCE

MacDONALD'S DENIALS ALLEGATION OF ESPIONAGE If ACTING FOR COMPANY ONLY WOMAN SECRETARY'S CHARGE By Telegraph—Press Assocint ion-Copyright (Received April 13, G. 35 p.m.) MOSCOW. April 13 10 of guilt by w. H. MacDonald after his previous plea of guilty at tho trial of tho Vickers engineers caused a profound sensation in the I midst of which the microphones failed and the public in Court could not ! understand what had happened. > Standing erect Mac Donald denounced . in cool, calculated terms tho statements . contained in the indictment written by his own hand. He denied paying Sokoloff for information but said ho paid ■ Gusev and others 2500 roubles for over- | time, partly from his own pocket, i Cross-examined Mac Donald said he had admitted systematic wreckage and . military espionage and that ho had obtained information about guns and aeroplanes. , The prosecutor asked why. The reply w-as: " I -„- as merely personally interested." This caused a stir and laughter. MacDonald added that ho understood Thornton was tho head of an espionage group and that Monkhouse and Cushny also had spied. Asked by Judge Ulrich why ho wanted to make himself look foolish in tho eyes of the public, Mac Donald replied: " ]. do not think I am foolish." Further Conflicting Evidence There was a further conflict of evidence when Thornton declared ho did not know Mac Donald was sabotaging and spying or he would have kicked him out. Mac Donald interjected: " Yes. Ho knew about spying." Then he limped out of the box in which he had been accommodated with a chair owing to his lameness and exhaustion. Thornton denied asking engineers to supply secret information. Ho said he could not remember whether ho asked Gusev for it. Mac Donald intervening admitted collecting information .through Gusev and transmitting it to Thornton. The latter thereupon repeated his declaration that ho received only information interesting to his company. Monkhouso corroborated this, saying: "Wo collected political and economic information for our company." Woman Accuses New Zealander Madame Kutosova, secretary to tho Vickers Company, contradicted Monkhouse's evidence. She gave numerous sources whence information was alleged to have been obtained and declared that Monkhouse and Thornton had secret books and documents, which Thornton took to London. The prosecutor then read Thornton's deposition in which he said: " All our espionage was performed through Richards. Monkhouse and I were under Richards' instructions and all the British personnel totalling 2S were engaged in spying." Thornton stated in evidence that ho wanted to retract his deposition .as untrue. It was written under moral pressure. After a long interrogation he added that the Vickers employees collected only harmless information. The Prosecutor: Have you any desire for sabotage? Thornton: I always build up and never destroy. ; * Thornton Born in Russia Monkhouse in the course of his evidence said: " I am not guilty of any crimes except giving Dolgov 3000 roubles which I regarded as a bribe to advance my firm's interests, Dolgov being a member of the Commission of Experts. " I did not write tho document which 1 signed concerning the transaction." Thornton revealed the fact that he was born in Russia and had lived there all his life except when he served in the war for Britain. The Court was again adjourned. The Britons returned to the Embassy in a motor-car flying the Union Jack. ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT MacDONALD IN CUSTODY ESPIONAGE ADMITTED (Received April 14. G. 35 p.m.) LONDON, April 11 The Foreign Office in a summary of the Moscow trial says: After the president at mid-day had endeavoured un-[ successfully to persuade Mac Donald to j revert to his pica ol guilty the Court j adjourned. Mac Donald left the Court in the custody of ,'in Ogpu guard. When he re-1 turned he was again questioned as to whether he admitted the espionage charge. He replied in a low tone m j tho affirmative. In answer to the prosecutor he said he had made a certain | petition jointly to the Ogpu and the prosecutor when in prison but he did not wish to divulge the contents to tho Court at the present moment. INTELLIGENCE SERVICE ACCUSED NO CONNECTION OFFICIAL BRITISH STATEMENT (Heceived April 14, 5.5 p.m.) British Wireless RUGBY, April 13 In view of the nature of the charges made against the six British subjects in the Moscow trial tho Foreign Secretary, Sir John Simon, mado the following specific statement in the House of Commons to-day: " None of these men 'has ever been employed directly or indirectly in connection with any branch of our Intelligence Service. " None of them has over supplied any information to any such branch and none of them has over been paid or promised any reward for such information, or been supplied with any money to obtain it. None of them has ever made any report to or on behalf of our Intelligence Service. " All the above statement are equally true of the Metropolitan Vickers Company itself. The company has not and never has had any connection with our Intelligence Service whatever. It follows that any suspicions entertained, or allegations made in any quarter, to the contrary effect, aro in fact, without any foundation whatever."