SWINDLER DIES IN GAOL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20930, 8 January 1938, Page 11

SWINDLER DIES IN GAOL

ECHO OF POLITICAL UPHEAVAL CONCERN IN LEGAL CIRCLES United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, January. 6. The Brussels correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” reports that Julius Barmat, aged 49, the Ukrainian financier who was recently extradited from Holland at the request of the Belgian authorities, died suddenly in his cell. He suffered from heart trouble, for which reason he was attended by prison doctors, but the authorities have asked for an autopsy.

Death under such circumstances, has caused concern among the legal authorities, as Barmat was to be tried for the alleged misappropriation of £lBO,OOO from the National Bank. He was also to be a witness in a case inaugurated as a result of the Rexists’ campaign alleging that the former Prime Minister, Dr. Paul Van Zeeland, aqd M. Franck, Governor of the National Bank, must have been aware that Barmat, who had previously been convicted of embezzlemen 1 in Germany, was an international swindler. IM. Franck, who was deeply affected by the violence of this campaign, died on January 3. Varied Career “The News Chronicle” says: Barmat made a fortune selling food to the German armies, thus enabling him to marry the girl whom he had asked to wait ten years owing to his poverty. Barmat was also connected with German espionage in Holland, and later moved in influential Communist circles. He was subsequently a friend of the French swindler Stavisky.