FRAUD TRIAL SENSATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18858, 8 November 1935, Page 14

FRAUD TRIAL SENSATION

USE OF PREMIER'S NAME ALLEGED INTERVENTION (Klc-c. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn,) PARIS, Nov. 6. M. Laval's name was linked with that of the murdered Judge Prince by Bardi de Fourtu in an outburst from the dock at the trial of Arlette Stavisky and dlegted accomplices of her late husband on charges of complicity in tile Stavisky frauds. Accused of allowing Stavisky to "window-dress"' prospectuses with his name, de Fourtu. who was a former cavalry general, shouted: "How could 1 not have had full confidence in Stavisky, seeing that a highly-placed personality who to-day occupies a still higher position—why should I not name hiin. M. Laval—intervened with Judge Prince, then Director of Financial Prosecutions, to stop a certain prosecution against Stavisky." The Prosecutor revealed that inquiries had not yet closed, and further prosecutions would follow without fear or favor. Hayoite, a former secretary of Stavisky, accused a French banker, Senator Baron Maurice de Rothschild, of tricking Stavisky in a £20,000 deal in yearling horses. He further declared that jewels from Ethiopia were entrusted to Stavisky by a company of which Haile Sellassic was the honorary president. In the closing! days of 1933 France was stirred to her depths by the exposure of the gigantic Stavisky frauds, and before the chain of immediate consequences was complete there had been fierce rioting in Paris and two Governrrfents had, fallen. It was discovered that at the suggestion of Stavisky the municipal loan office at Bayonne had placed in circulation 200 milliards worth of forged bonds. Stavisky, who was known as an old offender, was already in flight, and soon after came news of his suicide on January 9 in a villa at Chamounix, to which he had been tracked by police. A section of the French press suggested that he had been shot by the police. M. Dalimier, Minister for the Colonies, had when Minister of Commerce induced insurance companies to invest their funds in bonds of municipal loan offices. For this he found himself obliged to resign. Although the Chamber affirmed its confidence in the Ohautemps Government the behavior of Paris street, crowds showed the agitation prevailing in the capital. A number of high officials were openly charged with complicity, and the name of M, Pressard, the brother-in-law of M. Chautemps, was mentioned. On January 28 M. Chautemps and his colleagues resigned, and two days later M. Daladier formed a Ministry, which decided upon certain changes in the administration and judiciary. Public feeling again ran hitSh, culminating in serious rioting, in which 15 were killed and hundreds wounded, after which M. Daladier resigned. At the call of the President, M. Doumergue returned from his retirement and formed a Ministry, which appointed two commissions of inquiry, one to investigate the Stavislcv scandals and the other to fix responsibility for the rioting.