§ Sir W. Smilesasked the Secretary of State for War why the services of the C.I.D. and of the banks were not employed in investigating the £58,000,000 lost by the British taxpayer in currency transactions in Germany, Holland and Austria, in view of the fact that these services have been employed with success to stop currency losses in France.
§ Mr. BellengerThe problems and circumstances are different. Whereas the transactions in France and elsewhere which have formed the subject of recent convictions were effected by cheques passed through banks, the transactions by Service and other personnel in Germany were in goods and cash and banks were not involved. To deal with the latter cases, a preventive force, viz., the Service police (whose numbers included ex-C.I.D. officers) was available on the Continent. Further the transactions by Service, etc., personnel did not involve the Exchequer in any direct loss until the proceeds were exchanged into sterling through official channels. The C.I.D. could not usefully have been employed in preventing such exchanges, which were stopped last year by the introduction of the British Armed Forces Sterling Voucher scheme.