Chapter 31
The day after the funeral, one or two newspapers had made gloomy assessments of Plantation’s finances. The death of its largest shareholder and managing director had prompted certain ‘investors’ to question the company’s direction. The rumours circulating the day before were reported and attributed to anonymous experts ‘close to the situation’.
The ‘investors’ turned out to be Plantation’s banks who had various lines of credit outstanding to the Group companies. When it appeared that the loss of Jim Ashby might prompt a take-over and that the claims position was uncertain, one or two bank managers had said off the record that this could affect the company’s credit status and security rating. Hearing this, the board had panicked and called an emergency meeting. A draft press release and the approach to be taken with the banks were debated. All of the directors demanded to know what Robert Ashby was going to do to prevent the company collapsing.
“There is no reason why we should be losing our nerve at a critical moment because of baseless market gossip,” said Ashby. “We all know who is behind these rumours and we need to stand firm.”
“All very well for you to say but we have our reputations in the City to think of. Some of us sit on boards of other companies,” said Ray Wilkes. “The situation is getting out of control. If things get any worse, we’ll have to notify the Stock Exchange and speak with the banks to prevent any further deterioration. Something must be done to set things right.”
“Now, now,” said Roger Grenville. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Robert is right. These articles are nothing more than speculation. One must expect some volatility after the loss of our founder. It's unsurprising that we’re going through a period of adjustment at the moment. We all know that Jim Ashby was the lifeblood of the company. We have to stick with the course he set and to deal with the six claims. Robert is attending to that and has to be given time to identify what our position is. I say we should approve a vote of confidence in our new Managing Director and issue a press release saying that.”
Which was precisely what they did.
After the uproar subsided, Ashby returned to his office where Simon Wells and the other two underwriters were waiting for him.
“Wait till you hear this,” said Wells. “I just got off the ‘phone to Meredith – Lord, how he does ramble on. Anyway, he said that he’d looked into some other case he did a year or two ago which mentioned the Captain Stratos. The master of the Stratos was apparently involved in the sinking of another ship in ‘79. There was some sort of enquiry in Athens that looked at whether the ship had been scuttled – but nothing came of it. What do you think of that ?”
“That’s interesting.....it alters the theorem.”
“Theorem ? What do you mean ?”
“Well, there are three sets of possibilities – either the ship suffered an accident and sank. Or it was sunk by the Captain and owners. Or something else happened.”
Ashby took out his notepad and began writing three sets of equations, in Greek letters and numeric grouping, side by side, as a comparison.
“We’re trying to determine an unknown – what happened to the Captain Stratos, its master, crew and cargo. Within the equation are a large number of variables – the how, when, where, who, why, what, which factors. Within ‘when’, there are data describing the past and present. The ‘who’ includes the shipowners, Captain and crew and so on. Within these variables are an assortment of possibilities which can be represented together mathematically.....at any rate, this new information proves that the so-called facts as we know them are wrong. This is our starting point.”
The thought which occurred to him was of the note he’d seen in his father’s papers which said “scuttled”. Rather than mentioning this, he said, “Intriguing, isn’t it ? But our solicitors will want proof.”
Wells said, “as far as proof of fraud goes, it doesn’t help us – at least, not yet. But it looks rather strange all the same.”
“It does but a judge might think differently. You know how English law is – all facts and evidence. On the continent, they think we’re evidence-mad. Maybe they’re right. Anyhow, let’s find out a bit more about it.”
They decided to ring Meredith and in a long telephone conversation, it was decided that it could be useful to unearth as much as they could about the master of the Captain Stratos. In the court documents received from the shipowners’ solicitors, Ridgeford Anthony, he was referred to as ‘Constaninos Christoforou’, the same Captain linked with the Aegean Star.
Wells posited that the circumstances in the sinking of the Star might provoke enough uncertainty for the judge to agree an adjournment of six months. This was what was needed, in order to explore the claim fully. Meredith said it was wishful thinking and wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m afraid, Simon that we’re going to have to be ready to fight the case next Wednesday morning in the Admiralty Court, whether we like it or not and whether we’re ready or not. And I hear that the judge we’ll probably get, won’t be the easiest. I’ve had one or two run-ins with him in the past.”
The rest of the day was spent by Ashby and Meredith with Simon Wells, Liz Cordery and Guy Rutherford together in the boardroom, sorting out all of the documents they would need at the hearing. There were half a dozen folders for the main documents and later in the day, copies of these, arranged chronologically and numbered, arrived from Frances Keen at Ridgefords.
“Aha,” said Meredith. “Ridgefords have made their final preparations for the hearing – that means the Greeks have put up the money demanded by their solicitors and the trial will definitely go ahead.”
Immediately, he made a call to the clerk at Gatehouse Chambers, Old Square, Lincolns Inn and arranged for a ‘senior junior’ barrister to present Plantation’s defence the following week.
“There’s no point spending a lot of money on this case – because I can tell you now that the shipowners are likely to get their judgment. What we need to be doing is concentrating on an appeal, to try and buy more time. If we’re lucky enough to swing that, we could get the extra six months we need until it comes up in the Court of Appeal. The Appeal Court list is quite slow these days. But....the judge next week might very well refuse us leave to take the case any further. We must be prepared for that, one way or the other. And if the worst happens, you’ll need to be ready if a liquidator steps through the door. I mention this for you to ponder at your leisure. Now, this afternoon, I’d like to go through all of the paperwork to see how it stacks up and that we haven’t missed anything. Then first thing on Monday morning, we’ll have to go over everything with Arthur Riordan, our barrister. I’ve seen him in action on his feet. He’ll get us through what we need to do.”
“You’ll have to get it ready without me,” said Ashby. “I’ve decided to go to Athens. If I’m quick, I’ll be able to get a flight this evening.” Despite the others’ protests that it was imperative he should stay in London, his mind was made up. “I have no choice – it’s essential we find out what really happened.”