in reference to the statement in the "atin? to the effect that M
Andre Berthelot, senator and formerly president of the Banque Industrielle de Chine, is to be prosecuted for bribing his own brother, M. Philippe Berthelot, then chief secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latter has issued a reply in which, while recognizing that securities representing an amount which he does not specify were handed to him by his brother, he says that this transfer was part of a family arrangement having nothing whatever to do with the bank. The Present imputation, says M. Philippe Berthelot, is the result of assuming a connexion between acts separated by a considerable length of time and, in reality, quite independent. M Andre Berthelot, when about to marry, decided to set aside the principal part of his fortune—the part not tied up in the bank—for the benefit of his brothers, his nephews and their descendants, he having no children of his own. The securities were handed over to M. Philippe Berthelot in November 1918 on the understanding that he could enjoy the income but that the capital should be returned to his brother if the latter should need it. This. eventuality came about early in 1921 when the bank was in difficulties, The capital was returned to M Andre Berthelot, who immediately placed it at the disposal of the bank, although the money did not in any way come from that establishment. It had been handed by M Andre Berthelot to his brother six years after the foundation of the Banque Industrielle de Chine and at-a time when that enterprise was prosperous and in no need of assistance. M Philippe Berthelot adds that he never had the slightest interest, pecuniary or otherwise, in the Banque Industrielle and knew nothing whatever about its inner workings.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.