SERIOUS INDICTMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26626, 24 November 1947, Page 5

SERIOUS INDICTMENTS

AMERICAN GENERAL CHARGED IRREGULARITIES ALLEGED WASHINGTON, Rec. 11.10 p.m. Nov. 22 The Attorney-general, Mr Tom Clark, announced to-day that the Justice" Department would ask a Federal grand fury for criminal aeainst Major-general Bennett t. Meyers, war-time air force procurement officer, whose official ac^ m b,®f have been under investigation the Senate Investigating Subcommittee. Witnesses at the hearing testified that Major-general Meyers profited during the war' by 131,000. dollars, through the secret ownership of the Aviation Electric Corporation of Vandalia, Ohio. It was alleged that Meyers used his influence to provide the. corporation with sub-contracts, totalling 1,053,000 dollars. . H Major-general Meyers, who denied all the charges against him, told tnc sub-committee that his soie interest in getting the corporation started and helping it along was that he owed a personal obligation to a Mrs Blerio Lamarre. Meyers explained that with her husband’s knowledge and approval, he had an affair lasting five years with Mrs Lamarre, who was his secretary. Mr Bleriot Lamarre, who was president of Aviation Electric and became Meyers’s principal accuser, declared to the sub-committee that he hoped the senators would force Meyers to crawl from the inquiry room m ins belly like the snake that he is. During the hearings, Meyers testified that he and his family bought 4,000,000 dollars worth of Government bonds on a margin, with large resulting paper profits. General H. Arnold, war-time air force chief, said at the inquiry to-day that the air force had no desire to protect “ brass-hats.” Stating that he was in Europe at the time. General Arnold denied that he had seen an anonymous letter which was passed on the the air force in 1945 by the F. 8.1. charging Meyers with accumulating 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 dollars through irregularities.