SUMMARILY DISMISSED

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1929, Page 11

SUMMARILY DISMISSED

SCANDAL AT MILAN. MUSSOLINI Oti.STS THE MAYOR. Ernesto Belloni,' former Mayor of Milan and Italian financial expert at Versailles and the Reparation and Debt Conferences, ’ was summarily removed on August 2 by the Premier, Benito Mussolini, from all public and political activity, and several of his advisors, whose identity has not been made known, were imprisoned (writes the Rome correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor). The action followed the report of a special committee into Signor Belloni’s activities as Mayor of Milan. The charges provoking the investigation were made by Roberto Farinacci, former secretary of the Fascist Party and now provincial secretary at Cremona. He charged that Signor Belloni favoured the American banking concern, Dillon Read and Co., in return for a large money compensation in allotting a loan of £6,000,000 to the City of Milan in 1927. The committee exonerated Bellonf on this but found he had used his office to increase his private fortune. CRITICISM OF DIGNITY. Farinacci himself was subject to scathing criticism by Premier Mussolini, who said: “The head of the Government deplores in most forceful manner the action of Attorney Farinacci, Deputy in Parliament and member of the Grand Council, for having brought public and grave defamatory accusations, touching directly the Fascist Party and a great, banking institution of the United States.” The committee decided that Dillon, Read and Co.’s loan was itself, regular but that Belloni’s negotiations with the company were not. The committee said the loan was not so favourable as loans offered by other banks, but there was no evidence Belloni received compensation for his approval. The loan was also approved by the Minister of Finance. Signor Belloni’s plea was that he -undertook extraordinary expenses and contracts for the city in order to elevate it to splendour in accordance with directions of the Government and of Premier Mussoljni. Both Belloni and Farinacci have been among the most prominent members of the Fascist Party. Belloni.,was .president of ' the Fascist Congress •held; in Rome in 1921 before the party . came ; into power and has been known as one of the most foremost financiers. . and economists Italy has produced. He io also a noted I natural scientist ...gnd ,; has published several works on commercial chemistry; ALLEGED’ JOBBERY 7 . Mentioned by the committee, as specific activities of;-Belloni were, for' instance, paving, re-paving, un-paving, and re-paving of Meravilia Street, each time giving the contract to a company in which he was interested. He also was executive in a gas company which secured i favourable gas contracts for thecity.; ’ The Dillon, .Read and Co. loan referred to in the charges was made in April, 1927, and was for 6.5 per cent, interest payable in .25 years. The Banca Commerciale Italiana made what many considered a better offer but was turned down. Other banks bidding for the loan were J. P. Morgan Company, Blair and Co., Harris Forbes and Co., The Guaranty Trust Company and the Bankers’ Trust Company. The committee’s report said; Judging from documents existing in the City Hall, one cannot hide the impression the procedure..followed by the city administration in the preliminary phases of the contracting loan was not followed with the regularity and rigorous caution which the..-'importance of the operations should have demanded. Moreover, documents of-.the negotiations are missing from the archives.” BANKERS ISSUE STATEMENT. Dillon, Read and! Co., New York, investment banking house, which headed the syndicate that . offered the £6,000,000 city of Milan. Joan; mentioned (a New York message istates) in the Belloni scandal, issued! a statement that the company had not ibeen advised of “any shortage or irregularity” connected with the issuance of the loan in this country in. J 927. “All of the proceedings in connection with the issue,” said the statement, “were examined and approved by counsel for the American banking group, which consisted of-. Hughes (Charlee E. Hughes), Rounds, Schurman and Dwight, of New York, and Coudert Brothers; of Paris. “The proceeds of the loan were paid over in 1927 to the Italian Government’s fiscal agent in this country on instructions to the bankers from Count Volpi, then Finance Minister of Italy.’* \?. >:■ , ...