INGENIOUS CUSTOMS FRAUD.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1976, 5 February 1914, Page 5

INGENIOUS CUSTOMS FRAUD.

DISHONEST SHIPPING GLERK. EXPOBT OP RUBBISH HOWTEK DUf Y WAS REFUNDED By tdestftph-lPrcas- Ass6ei<iUon-Copyrfßh.l (Rcc. February 4, 8.5 p.m.) Melbourne/February 4. Judgment has been given for I'er* inewan, Wright and Company, Ltd., carriers a»d shipping agents, against the Victorian Savings jlank ' Commissioners for the stun oi' £1545, The case was tho outcome of an ingenious Customs fraud.. Charles Heath, while shipping elerk for the plaintiffs, was in tho habit of receiving blank signed cheques tor-pay-ment pi Customs duties, and filling in the proper amounts when they were as< eortiiined.' ..fioath got delivery bf the Hoods, ami then pretended that the owners had ehaiigec! their minds, and intended to re-ship and export them, so that no duties would be repayable. In order to'carry out tho fraiid, Heath procured cases similar to thoso which ho got delivery, and filled them with rubbish. He then had them 6hi,pped, and satisfied the CusfcoKns as to the export of dutiable goods. The cheques, oil.which plaintiffs clajmed i were banked 'fas Heath's oiVM nccount.

Tiie Chief Justice {Sir' John Madden) said that it was ijui ; fce deaf that the employers frero innocent of any participation in Heath's faiuds'j and when it was found that the money was owing to the 'Customs far dutiable goods, Pofmowan and Wright's, paid it all. The cheques pafd into Heath's account Were drawn payable to "Customs Or bearer," and crossed, and ho (the Chief Justico) could not understand hoiv the Savings Banks authorities had. failed to suspect the transactions;, as/ the least inquiry weuld have disclosed tho fraud.