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Gang accused of £229 million theft attempt
10.02.09
A gang accused of trying to steal £229 million from a bank also targeted the English National Ballet, a court heard today.
Hugh Rodley, 61, David Nash, 47, and Inger Malmros, 58, allegedly attempted to bank a fake cheque from the dance company for £45,120.
Watchmaker Casio was also an intended victim, and the gang allegedly tried to bank a cheque from the firm for £35,399, made out to their company Mediatel.
The alleged gang is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, in east London, accused of trying to transfer millions of pounds from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to companies they had set up, by sneaking in to the London offices and corrupting the computer systems.
Rodley, of Twyning, Tewkesbury, a lord of the manor who bought his title, Soho sex shop owner Nash of Durrington, West Sussex and Swedish national Malmros deny one count of conspiracy to defraud and one of conspiracy to transfer criminal property between January 1 and October 5, 2004.
Today Nash denied any knowledge of the plot and claimed he was tricked into fronting one of the companies by Rodley.
He told the court the fact he had been arrested was "hysterical".
But James Mulholland, defending Rodley, accused Nash of being involved in the alleged Casio and Royal Ballet scams.
He said: "I put it to you that you were partly responsible for handing over the cheques, one from Casio and one from the English Royal Ballet.
"Presumably you were going to take a commission."
Mr Mulholland added: "What I suggest is that from the moment you were arrested, you have sought to distance yourself from what is going on.
"You have done your best to try and distract attention by blaming everything on Mr Rodley and by hiding behind him."
But Nash denied any knowledge of the scams.
He replied: "No. Mr Rodley is the architect of all of this, I was just the driver, the security, working on a need-to-know basis.
"I'm not lilywhite but this to me is fairyland. You cannot walk into any financial institution and come out with that sort of money.
"If Mr Rodley had said to me we are going to steal £200 million-plus it would have been a non starter.
"When I was arrested, with all due respect, it was hysterical."
