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15
embezzlement of several thousand dollars in the earlier
months of 1927.
I+
It would therefore appear to be probable that there has been a highly skilled forger in the Treasury itself and this man would have had every opportunity for watching the Treasury procedure and getting access to signatures
and books.
There is a striking resemblance between this man's
handwriting and the handwriting in the documents supplied for the opening of the account with the Instone Banking Corporation Ltd. and the other two banks. This handwriting has not been compared by experts.
This man left the Colony on the 7th January and has been traced first to Macao and then to Canton, which last named place he left on or about the 27th January. His furfer movements cannot be traced, The police are
endeavouring to trace him.
108
While it is possible that the signatures are
forgeries the possibility that genuine signatures were obtained by fraud cannot be ignored.
It is hardly conceivable that either Mr. Messer or Mr. Black would sign any cheque which was presented for signature unaccompanied by vouchers supporting the
expenditure.
Assuming that the signatures were obtained by means
of forged vouchers, then, apart from any cheque drawn in
favour of the head of a department, the only likelihood of
payments of such size as those in the three cheques would
be in relation to payments in respect of undertakings carried out under the Public Works Department. This would be known to most of the Treasury employees.
On the 3rd February the Treasury Solicitor, for the
purpose of the contemplated prosecution of the two