STORY OF ARMS SWINDLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23690, 23 December 1938, Page 4

STORY OF ARMS SWINDLE

£7250 CHARGE ALLEGED POSE BY CHINESE FALSE WOOLWICH ARSENAL NOTES ,'V <From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Nov. 10. A conspiracy by which the manager of a well-known Paris firm of armament agents is alleged to have been induced to part with £7250 for a consignment of arms, which were falsely stated to have been in Wooftwich Arsenal, but did not, in fact, exist, was described by counsel at Bow Street. False documents which purported to have come from Woolwich Arsenal and the Chinese Embassy were referred to. Counsel also alleged that cases which were supposed to contain /anti-tank machine guns and ammunition were opened at Marseilles and fqpnd to be full of rubbish and bricks. S The accused are Frederick Willing, 50, a Dutch subject, metal .‘merchant, of Tavistock Court, Tavistock square, Bloomsbury; Dennis Michael Corrigan, 46, agent, of Park lane W.; and James Oil Herbert Willing, 24, metal merchant, of Dorset House. They are charged with having conspired with Chou Tin Shu and others unknown to defraud Mr Theodore Laffltte of £7250. Shu was stated to be at present in America. ,si There were further charges of obtaining £7250 from Mr Laffltte by false pretences and of attempting to obtain £4OOO. After Laffltte had given evidence the hearing was adjourned until! Tuesday. An application for bail for Corrigan was refused, but the Willingst* bail was continued. ■;y INTRODUCED IN EMBASSY Mr E. Clayton, opening the case for the prosecution, said that James Willing, who carried on business lh Southampton street, Westminster, under the trade name of Metals, was the son of Frederick Willing. About the beginning of this year James Willing met Laintte in London and told him he knew Shu, whom he described as an important official at the Chinese Embassy. X In the middle of January,, said Mr Clayton, James Willing took Laffltte to the Chinese Embassy in Portland place and introduced Shu to him in the hall of the Embassy. Shu said he had purchased war material from Woolwich Arsenal. Some was for use in China, but he wanted to dispose of the rest. He said it was in the Arsenal, and asked Laffltte whether he wished to buy it. Laffltte said he would bear the matter in mind. ;*■. •On February 14 Laffltte telephoned James Willing from Paris afid asked him to make a proposal regarding the purchase of 50 machine guns and 500,000 cartridges. The price was to be £2OOO premium and £9OOO odd for the actual cases of guns and arms, making a .total of £11,250. On February 25 Laffltte agairr saw the Willings at Southampton street. Two order forms were made' out for a total of 50 guns and 500,000 cartridges, and the price of thege order forms was £925Q. Delivery Was to be before March 15, and payment was to be completed on production of authenticated documents from Woolwich and the Chinese Embassy. 4: Laffltte made out a cheque for £2OOO payable to James Willing. The. cheque was endorsed “ James Willing," and had gone into the Bloomsbury, branch of the Westminster Bank.

SUSPICIONS AROUSED Mr Clayton added that on March 3 Frederick Willing showed Lkffitte in Paris an invoice for the of £9250j .and asked’hifn t<»' : tnake a further'paymShT." "" Laffitte said he would not pay anything further without proof from the Chinese Embassy. On February 28 Frederick Willing gave Laffitte in Paris what purported tp be a Chinese' Embassy invoice giving a description of the order, the quantity of the goods, and the total price. Laffitte believed that the document was genuine, and he paid £5250 from his bank to James Willing’s bank account on condition that Shu should have sufficient to release the arms from Woolwich Arsenal On the very same day payment for £SOOO in cash was made out of James Willing’s bank account. The two Willings probably saw Laffitte about a dozen times in Paris. On two or three occasions Shu was: taken to Paris with the Willings, and a meeting was arranged at the Chinese Embassy there. , '7. ;' ~, . ‘ ; Later the Willings asked, him .for a. further £4OOO, but Laffitte refused-to pay until he received the proper documents. Eventually Frederick Willing went to Paris and produced two documents purporting to come from Woolwich Arsenal. They had the Arsenal crest on them, said Mr Clayton, and were addressed to Shu at the Chinese Embassy in London. CHEQUES STOPPED Laffitte became suspicious about the documents and told James Willing so. Laffitte said he would not pay until he had seen the goods at Marseilles. When Portal, Laffitte’s secretary, got to the docks he saw that two or three cases were broken open. Some cases apparently contained masonry, stones,motor parts, and old tyres. Portal said to James Willing that he would examine the others, but Willing said, “You need not bother to do that. The remainder contain exactly the same thing.” Afterwards the Willings called on Laffitte in Paris and handed him cheques for £II,OOO drawn on an account at the Midland Bank, which at the time was overdrawn. When Laffitte presented them they were returned marked "Payment stopped." During all those meetings with, Willings, continued Mr Clayton, Laffitte did not on any occasion come across Corrigan. If Laffitte had known that Corrigan was concerned, he would have had nothing to do with it, because he had previously had a rather disastrous transaction with Corrigan. Dealing with the shipment of cases from London, Mr Clayton said that Corrigan arranged this with a man named Chambers, agent to a firm of shippers, who effected an insurance for £15,000 on the cases.

When Corrigan saw the goods described as cartridges and machine guns, he said, “We cannot have this. They are not being shipped. He said that it was hardware, and when Chambers suggested that that was a vague term, Corrigan said. “Call' it motor cars.” ■ . . ! r

A day or two before the cases were delivered Corrigan got in touch with a Mr Myloski and asked him to tender for making 550 boxes. Myloski was paid £350. In conclusion, Mr Clayton said that Corrigan told Myloski to load up the boxes with old motor tyres. As sufficient of these could not be obtained pieces of masonry taken frotn a church in the district which was being pulled down were put into the boxes to fill up “PERFECT DEFENCE” CLAIM Mr C. G. L. Du Cann, for the Willings, said that a report of the opening statement might do great harm to the business firm of Willings. They were men of excellent character and their firm had always been known as a highly honourable one. Their case was that they themselves were victims, of the conspiracy, and that they had a perfect answer to the charge. Mr Walter Frampton, for Corrigan said he did not agree with the accurac of Mr Du Cann’s statement Theodore Laffltte. who describee himself as a director and manager of a firm in Paris for the manufacture and sale of arms, gave evidence in cor roboration of Mr Clayton’s statement.