BANKRUPT AUCTIONEER
CHARGE OF FRAUDULENT CONVERSION, (Per United Press Association). AUCKLAND. May 10. A bankrupt auctioneer, Percy William Douglas, pleaded not guilty before Mr Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court to nine charges of having fraudulently converted to his own use sums of money totalling £4OB 12/3, being balances of the properties sold by him. In a statement to the police, said the Crown Prosecutor, the accused admitted having received the moneys, and not having paid them to his various clients. Accused had kept no trust account and admitted having used money of one client to pay another. Counsel for the defence submitted that there was no case to answer. Fraudulent action was the essence of the charge and he contended that no evidence of intent to defraud had been produced. The Judge over-ruled this. Counsel said that the defence broadly was that accused was entirely ignorant of the responsibilities thrown upon him by the Auctioneers’ Act. The position was largely due to faulty office methods, for which the accused was not altogether to blame.
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 18938, 11 May 1923, Page 6
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175BANKRUPT AUCTIONEER Southland Times, Issue 18938, 11 May 1923, Page 6
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