FRAUD CHARGES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1942, Page 3

FRAUD CHARGES

AGAINST BIG AMERICAN COMPANY. ENGAGED IN SUPPLYING WAR MATERIAL. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, December 21. The Federal Grand Jury indicted the Anaconda Wire and Cable Company and five ■ of its officers on eight counts, charging conspiracy to defraud the Government on war contracts amounting to approximately 6,000,000 dollars. The Attorney-General, Mr Biddle, said this was one of the most reprehensible cases of defrauding the Government and endangering the lives of American soldiers and sailors that had ever come to the notice of the Department of Justice. He could conceive of nothing more vicious or more treacherous than deliberately supplying the forces with defective war material. The Justice Department said that some of the Anaconda wire was sent to Russia, resulting in a Soviet complaint. It was alleged that defendants removed the inspection labels- from tested and approved wire and placed them on untested material. It was also alleged that without the knowledge of the Government inspectors, defendants secretly installed a transformer or circuit breaker on the insulation resistance test equipment, commonly called the button-box. Secret manipulation of this during tests of wire and cable resulted in inferior and defective material being passed. The United States Army ordered Anaconda wire to be used only for manoeuvres.