Police Search For Embezzled £20,000

Press, Volume C, Issue 29499, 28 April 1961, Page 13

Police Search For Embezzled £20,000

XN.Z. Preee Association— Copyright) MELBOURNE, April 27. Detectives are searching for £20,000 hidden in Melbourne, they believe, by a man now serving seven years’ gaol for embezzlement.

Detectives investigating the case, known as “the Alfred Hitchcock mystery," are now satisfied that only a few hundred pounds of the missing money was spent.

A bank clerk. Alan James Bending, aged 22, who is now in prison, admitted the defalcation to the police but claimed he gambled aU the money away. The £20,000 embezzlement said to have been executed within a fortnight, is one of the largest in Victorian history for such a short period Detectives said today that they thought they knew where the money has been hidden. They have been searching for the board for several months but believe it will take them many more months to track down the hiding place.

The case was given the unusual nickname by police as the embezzlement was made soon after a play produced by Alfred Hitchcock was shown on Melbourne television.

The story told of a clerk who embezzled a gigantic sum from his employers, refusing to disclose what he did with the money. He ultimately served a long prison term and when released gave back all the money. But he lived the rest of his life in luxury according to the television show.

TTie interest and profits accumulated during the clerk’s prison term were enormous. The profits went mto his own pocket Detectives believe that a variation of the same Hitchcock theme was worked in Melbourne But instead of investing the money it was hoarded away. However, if the money is not found by the time the culprit is released, the proposed decimal currency system may thwart the longran®e P>*ns. The embezzler would have little hope of get-

ting rid of the money without attracting attention. At the trial, police said they were told that all the money was gambled away at the races within a fortnight. The Judge said he did not accept this story. , Since then bookmakers have told detectives that it is impossible for anybody to gamble away £20.000 in a fortnight without attracting some attention. They did not know of anybody who plunged that heavily at any race meeting in the period concerned. In General Sessions on March 6 this year Judge Woinarski sentenced Bending to a total of seven years’ gaol on two counts of larceny. Bending had pleaded guilty to both charges. Judge Woinarski fixed a minimum term of five years before Bending would be eligible for parole.

New Kenya Government fN Z.P.A ..Reuter—Copyright > NAIROBI. April 27. The president of the Kenya African Democratic Union, Mr Ronald Ngala. today announced the formation of a new Kenya Government. He said that two ministries would remain vacant. The announcement came after a meeting last night between K.A.D.U. leaders and the Governor. Sir Patrick Renison. The K.ARU is one of the two main African parties in the Legislative Council, where it has 10 seats, compared with 16 seats held by the Kenya African National Union.

The K.A.D.U. has refused to join a government until Jomo Kenyatta, the convicted organiser of Mau Mau, is freed from restriction.