By 4.30 the next afternoon, Simon had collected his suit, cards, letterheads, and then stayed up until nearly midnight typing the Africans papers. He’d written a letter which was an exact copy of the letter the African had faxed. This letter was addressed to the Ministry of Aviation.
The bill for services rendered Simon called it. It was signed by four company directors.
He’d signed on behalf of the other three. His own personal signature had been easy but the other three had taken a little practice on a scrap of paper. He’d used a different type of pen for each signature, so each bore something resembling individuality. He typed four copies, signing each of them before stamping them with the company seal.
The second letter was similar to the first. A letter signed by the four company directors authorizing the bearer, Simon, to open an account for the deposit of the proceeds of the bill for services rendered. He stamped it with the company seal.
He wrote another, authorizing the bearer whose signature appeared below to transfer the funds to where the bearer wished, on presentation of the letter. This third letter he signed only three times, leaving the fourth directors space blank. He left his own space blank to belay the possibility of him forgetting the style used by one of the others.
He made four copies of this letter, put two copies into each of two envelopes and addressed them to himself in the outback.
He wrote a fourth letter, authorizing Abu Mohammed access to 75% of the funds held in the account. The four directors signed this letter of account and Simon thumped it with the company seal.
No bank would see this letter. It was for the Africans eyes only and Simon knew he would have to find a way to make the African feel that he was in control. A bank letterhead would do the trick, if he could acquire one from the bank he ended up using in Europe. Then he would only need to find access to a typewriter in Liechtenstein and mail it to the African from there. Whether the African would inquire about this with the bank official when the final transaction for the transfer of funds took place Simon could not know.
Surely he wouldn’t oversee that directly.
That job would come under the responsibility of a senior government official and not the minister himself. Wouldn’t it?
He felt certain that the African and Sudovich must have some trust with each other, at least on a business level?
Simon leaned back in his chair, rubbed his eyes and tried to think of anything he may have forgotten.
He decided he hadn’t overlooked anything and started to clear up all the bits and pieces. He placed the letters in a folder, chose to keep only about twenty of each of the business cards and retained the pen he had used for signing his own signature.
He dropped the other three pens, the unused letterheads, business cards and every scrap of paper he’d used, along with the ribbon from the typewriter into a plastic bag. He tied the bag closed and placed it near the door ready for disposal in the morning.