PRISONERS BREAK DOWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 2 (Supplement)

PRISONERS BREAK DOWN

DRAMATIC COURT SCENES CONSPIRACY AND FRAUD BROTHERS FOUND GUILTY Dramatic scenes marked the conclusion at Manchester Assizes of an eight days' trial, when three young city business men were found guilty of conspiracy, fraudulent conversion, uttering a forged document and obtaining credit by fraud. The prisoners were Abraham Bernard Adler, aged 34, of Cheetham; Marcus Konigsberg, aged 32, of Higher Broughton; and Maurice Konigsberg, aged 24, his brother. Adler was sentenced to 18 months in the second division, Marcus Konigsberg to 15 months in the second division and Maurice Konigsberg to one year in the second division. Immediately Adler had been sentenced, the two Konigsbergs broke down. Both were sobbing bitterly as the younger one put his arm round his brother's neck and tried to comfort him. Women relatives, seated in different parts of the court, also sobbed. Before leaving the dock, Marcus Konigsberg stated he was innocent, and did not understand how he had been brought into the case at all. He was granted leave to appeal. Maurice Konigsberg also declared that he was innocent. " During the time I was employed in the business," he added, " I worked hard and made £7OOO or £BOOO for it. And now 1 stand here charged with fraud." The case for the prosecution, as outlined by Mr. J. C. Jackson, K.C., M.P ~ was that Adler and Marcus Konigsberg were partners in the firm of A. K. Textiles and Company, and Maurice Konigsberg was their salesman. A. K. Textiles had a joint trading account arrangement with Messrs.

Laski and Laski, the head of which firm is Mr. Nathan Laski, whosn benevolence among the Jewish community of Manchester is widely known. Mr. Jackson alleged that by the use of fictitious invoices and other fraudulent means Mr. Laski's firm was defrauded of just over £IO,OOO by A. K. Textiles. So enormous was the pile of books and documents produced in the case that a special room had to be reserved for storing them. In addressing the jury, Mr. Jackson compared the frauds with a stage play. "At one period," he observed, " only one, or perhaps two, of the actors are on the stage at the same time, but eventually all of them are on together. That is what happened here." Mr. Jackson described an attack by Adler on Mr. Laski's character as " deplorable, vindictive and venomous." Adler, he added, had thrown mud in the hope that some of it would stick. But Mr. Laski's character, both as a business man and a private individual, was beyond reproach. Mr. Laski, who is 72, also personally denied all the allegations by Adler

when these were put to him in the witness box. He had, he explained, been a member of the Manchester Town Council for 28 j'ears, and this was the first time in his life that any suggestion had ever been made against his honour.