“HIDDEN MILLIONS"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 895, 12 February 1930, Page 11

“HIDDEN MILLIONS"

PRE-BOLSHEVIK TREASURE IN RUSSIA

IMPERIAL GOLD RESERVE Somewhere in wildest Siberia a great treasure lies buried. It has been in its secret hiding-place silica the days when Admiral Koltchak 3 “White” legions were retreating along the Trans-Siberian railwav before the armies of the Bolshevik revolution, reports the Paris correspondent of the London “Daily Chronicle.” It is known that Admiral Koltchak had at his disposal a considerable part of the gold reserve of the old Russia. For a. while this was kept at Kazan, but was taken away from there when the Reds advanced on the place. With it. it is believed, was also a considerable amount of golc which formed part of the “war chest” of the “White” forces, while many wealthy Russians had confided their priceless family jewels to the guardians of this last remnant of Imperial Russia’s exchequer. After the capture and execution of Koltchak by the Bolsheviks, the bull; of the jewels was probably reclaimed by their owners. The money, however, amounting to at least 100,000.000 roubles ( £10,000,000), was, it is said, divided into four parts by Koltchak’s friends and relatives who were with him on his disastrous expedition. The bulk was buried “somewhere in Siberia.” No more was heard about it until quite recently, when a group of four persons came to Paris and approached certain financiers with a strange proposal. They declared that they were aware of the spot where one-quarter of Koltchak’s treasure, several mil lions of pounds in value, was buried, and it was their desire to sell their share of it. (All treasure found in Russia is, according to Soviet law, divided equally between the Government and the finder. 1 One of the greatest of Parisian financiers, among others, having refused to have anything to do with the proposal, the group approached an . important Parisian bank, which thought that the matter was worth inquiring into. As a result, a preliminary agreement was concluded before the two parties. The group furnished the bank with certain information, and a commission has been dispatched to Moscow to verify this and to open up negotiations with the Russian Government. These pourparlers are now proceeding, but here in Paris a curious complication has arisen. Holders of old Russian bonds, which are now practically valueless, have given out as their intention to request the French Government to proceed to the sequestration of all sums which may come to France as a result of the finding cf Koltchak’s treasure. These should, it i 3 maintained, be used on behalf of French investors who suffered so heavily as a result of the Soviet Government’s refusal to recognise the pre-revolution debts contracted by Russia. There is a belief that the finding of one pa.rt of the treasure w r ould result in the discovery of data enabling the rest to be unearthed.