HUGE FRAUD ALLEGED.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1922, Page 5

HUGE FRAUD ALLEGED.

PROMOTION OF A COMPANY. DEAL IN COTTON MILLS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received March 10, 5.5 p.m. London, March 9. The trial has opened at the Old Bailey of E. T. Hooley, Thomas Fletcher, a former Mayor of Derby, John Angus McDonald, a former Mayor of Ilkeston, Thomas Llewellyn Demery, formerly Hooley’s secretary, William Alfred Wallas, a solicitor, and Bertrand Breakspear, Hooley’s clerk. They are charged with conspiring to defraud in connection with the flotation of the Jubilee Cotton Mills, Limited, at Oldham. The prosecution alleges that Demery induced Lewis, who is a wealthy young Cardiff shipowner, to invest £60,000 by false statements. Lewis did not know of Hooley’s connection with the project, the latter studiously keeping in the background. Sir Richard Muir, prosecuting, said Fletcher purchased the mill from a bankrupt firm, paying about £3500. He then arranged with Hooley and McDonald to float a company, Fletcher receiving £20,000 in cash and 35,000 shares. The purchasers made no attempt to work the mill, but used it to create shares and debentures, which the public were induced to buy by the pretence of a dividend of 33 1-3 per cent, earned and paid. It was a bogus profit. Lewis lost about £lOO.OOO in deals with Hooley, £445.000 being in connection with the Jubilee shareholders. The deficiency in connection with the jubilee Mills, Ltd., was £129,000. — Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.