OIL FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 July 1930, Page 11

OIL FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

CIVIL CLAIM AT WELLINGTON PIMENTEL DENIES STATEMENTS. LABELS CHANGED ON OIL DRUMS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The operations of the Mecca Oil Company were the subject of further in- , vcotigation in the Magistrate s Court i yesterday when the hearing of tho civil ; action in which allegations of dishonesty ’ were made against M. P. Pimentel was i continued. The case for the plaintiffs wae concluded and after hearing several witnesses for the defence the Court adjourned until to-morrow morning. Nancy Wardrop, stenographer, said that during the five weeks she was employed by Pimentel there 'had been no communications about. oil coming direct from the United States -oi going out of New Zealand. ■ ' " i Arthur Bynaters, storeman for Adams and Blyth, said oil for the Mecca Company would come in. one day and go out the next; sometimes it came in and went out on the same day. Eric Manning, grocer's boy, paid he had been employed by Pimentel.-■ It was part of his job to mix oil that had beep returned by some of the district agents who were “pulling out of the thing.’ The . oil was put into drums bearing the Standard and Texas companies’. markings. Under instructions from Pimentel he° removed the marks on the drums and substituted the words, “Mecca Oil Company.” , ■' •» . Isaac Joseph Bason, bricklayer, said Pimentel offered him Auckland as'' liic district. He paid a deposit of £25 and a balance of £450 on the understanding that all money invested in the venture would be secured by the equivalent value in oil. When Bason received his first’ consignment of oil it was marked second and standard. He then resigned; He was given a post-dated cheque f«r £475 on July 10. This cheque was dishonoured. It represented his life savings. The oil was valued at £123. AUCKLAND AGENCY CHANGED. Leonard James Paterson, Auckland, said he answered the newspaper advertisement. Pimentel wired him saying that if he had deposited £lOO on a £lOOO purchase of his stock he would; transfer the Auckland agency to him. Paterson was unable to find.the money' and Pimentel suggested that ho should find £l5O and go int-> partnership with Bason. On Bason’s resignation Paterson telephoned Pimentel offering him £5OO for the Auckland agency. The offer was accepted and he borrowed some money in order to pay the £5OO. Phillip Percy Wimsett said PimenM told him he was representative for an old-established American company, and he intended to establ’sh the business throughout the southern ■ hemisphere Pimentel had. said: “Seeing you are not a bad chap we will let you have for £lOO an agency.” Wimsett agreed to invest £lOO in the business on the assurance that ho would not stand to lose anything. He entered into an agreement whereby he was to receive a salary of £4 and commission on sales. Under another agreement drawn up later he was appointed district manager for Wellington. Orf June 28 he asked Pimentel for comm sion on the sales he had made. Pimentel o-ave him a cheque for £0 13s .fid. Wimsett asked for a statement. Wimeett challenged its correctness and Pimentel, ho alleged, hit him in the mouth. “He thought he was going to knock me out, but he missed; I hit him back and he called for help,* 1 added Wimsett. Mr. Treadwell (for plaintiffs)':. “You appear to be the only one of his customers who any '/satisfaction out of him.” Alfred Dudley Smith said he was the successful applicant for the position of secretary to the Mecca Oil Company. A condition of his engagement 'was that he was required to invest £2OO in the bueinees. This sum he borrowed and paid in. His salary ' was'fixed at £7 a week, but it Was later reduced to £5 on the ground that extra assistance was required. While he was in the office Smith saw invoices of the receipt of oil from the Atlantic. Union, Standard and Texas Oil Companies.'

ALLEGED STATEMENTS DENIED.

Outlining the defence, Mr. Harding «aid he would endeavour to show that the statements alleged to have been made to agents who had given evidence for plaintiffs were not made at all and that his client had never held himself out as the credited agent or representative of the Mecca Oil Company. The magistrate: “Is there such a company?” “There is not,” replied Mr. Harding, who added that it had been in the mind of the defendant to form a company of that name. Oil had been bought locally from' the companies mentioned and further oil had been purchased direct from the Standard Oil Company in the United States. “We submit,” said Mr. Harding, “that these actions have, been brought mainly at the instigation of Wimsett, who, I think it must be seen, had a difference of opinion with Pimentel and wished to seek revenge.” ' It was regrettable that the cheque for £475 had been dishonoured, .but that was probably due to the fact that Pimentel had been arrested on Tuesday night. Evidence was given by Douglas Pemberton, Thnaru agent for Mecca Oil, and his partner, Reginald Robert Taylor, by Leslie Simpson Adam, Dunedin, and George Hupton, Nelson. These said they had no definite complaints but would not have entered the contract if they had known Pimentel was buying oil in New Zealand. Samuel Carter, Taranaki, also gave evidence. All these witnesses had invested sums varying from £7O to £2OO in the business. D. S. MeCave, of Phillips and Pike, New Zealand representatives of the Standard Oil Company, said oil for Pimentel had already arrived and another shipment o* about 8000 gallons was cn the water in three ships. It had never been suggested that proprietary brands of oil sold under trade names deceived the public.