PEER IMPRISONED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 64, 6 November 1931, Page 3

PEER IMPRISONED

(Press Assn

APPEAL DISMISSED LORD KYLSANT'S CONVICTION SUPPORTED BY AMPLE EVIDENCE SENTENCE ALSO TO STAND

. — By Telegraph — Copyright).

LONDON, WednesdayMr. Justice Avory, delivered the judgment of the Court of Appeal dismissing the appeal of Lord Kylsant against his conviction and sentence for hiaking and publishing a prospeetus he knew to be false in material particular in connection with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. Speaking deliberately and at length Mr. Justice Avory surveyed the. history of the case and expressed his opinion that there was ample evidence upon which the jury could reach its conclusion. The prospectus was false in a material particular in that it conveyed a false impression by putting before investors figures which apparently disclosed the existing position of the company, but which in fact concealed the true position. In other words, the documents implied that the company was in a sound finaneial position and that prudent investors could safely invest in it. This implication arises particularly from the statement that dividends had been regularly paid over a period of years, which was misleading because they were paid, not from current earnings, but from earnings of the abnormal war-time period, and that was omitted from the document. If there was evidenee that the document was false in the particulars already indicated, there was ample evidenee upon which a jury could find that the appellant knew this falsity, knowing as he did the means whereby th© dividend was paid. ^ The Court unanimously came to the conclusion that there was no mis-

direction of the jury, and that there was ample evidenee upon which the verdict must be supported. The appeal was accordingly dismissed. Mr. Justice Avory, after a brief consultation with his colleagues, added: The Court is of opinion that the direction to the jury was too favourable. Lady Kylsant and the Earl of Coventry saw Lord Kylsant before he was taken to prison in a taxi. Lord Kylsant was found guilty at the Central Criminal Court in London on July 30 of making and publishing a prospectus which he knew to be false in a material particular with intent to induce persons to entrust or advance property to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, of which he was chairman, and was sentenced by Mr. Justice Wright to 12 months' imprisonment in the second division. He was found not guilty of the charge of making and publishing annual reports of the company for the years 1926 and 1927 which he knew to be false in a material particular. with intent to deceive the shareholders of the company.