FINED £150,000..

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20359, 17 July 1934, Page 5

FINED £150,000..

Diamond Ring Cause of Trouble. JENNY DOLLY'S JEWEL. (Special to the “ Star.”) PARIS, June 12. Miss Jenny Doll) 1 -, younger of the two famous sisters, was fined £150,000, and sentenced to three days’ imprisonment, for defrauding the French Excise and Customs authorities. The cause of the trouble is a 52carat diamond ring which she bought at Cannes in 1926 for about £37,000. Since its purchase the diamond has pursued her with bad luck as persistently as the notorious Hope diamond. Miss Dolly, before she left for England to stay with friends, pending her appeal, was terribly distressed at the sentence passed on her. She is still suffering from the aftereffects of a motor-car accident which nearly cost her her life near Bordeaux when she was motoring with a noted French airman.

In tones of mixed indignation and astonishment, Miss Jenny Dolly said: “ For months past the Customs authorities held out offers of a settlement for relatively small sums. You may be sure I would have accepted them to avoid all this trouble were it not that I felt sure that my absolute good faith woulud be cleared by the courts, as I have not the slightest thing to reproach myself with. “ Imagine my stupefaction when I heard that judgment had been given against me for an act that was neither committed by myself nor on my behalf. The Customs authorities claim that I benefited by the fraud. On the other hand, I was the victim, and the guilty party is no longer here. “ I cannot support the idea of being taken for a swindler, a swindler of France, the country I love so well, and which I regard almost as my homeland. This is the thought that hurts me most in this regrettable affair.” Case for Customs. Customs authorities take a different

view of the case. They put their case briefly as follows: Miss Jenny Dolly, they say, bought the diamond ring for 4,500,000 francs, roughly £37,000 at the rate of exchange in 1928, when it dazzled her eyes in a jewellery establishment in Cannes. She declared, they allege, that the ring was for export to England, so the usual 50 per cent export tax on such deals was not imposed. T£en, according to the case for the Excise, Miss Jenny Dolly had the diamond ring sent direct to her jeweller in London. A torn half of a playing card, say the Customs authorities, was also sent to the London jeweller, and shortly afterwards M. Rosenberg, Miss Jenny Dolly’s secretary, who has since died, presented himself in London with the remaining half of the playing card. , Then M. Rosenberg, with the diamond ring in his pocket, returned to France, thereby cheating the Customs as well as the fiscal authorities. That is the revenue authorities’ case. Miss Jenny Dolly contends that she had no knowledge of the action of the late M. Rosenberg, but so far the courts have decided against her. The famous 52-carat diamond ring was sold by public auction with others of Miss Jenny Dolly’s jewels, which had been pledged with the Paris Municipal pawnbroking establishment some months ago in Paris. It brought only £20,000.