Whistleblower

This book has the sort of political intrigue that captivates viewers of shows likeHouse of Cards, " but the main man is actually a decentwhistle blowesomeone who prefers protagonists on the correct moral side of the spectrum, itmade the book that much more enjoyable(AMAZON REVIEWWHISTLEBLOWERPROLOGUEJames William Smithdependent Member of thearliament talkibout organised theft ofonal Aid money to US Senator Colin Stafford andFBI Legal Attache, Stephchart at the Us emb2014Senator, these are powerful people They already have moneyand resources but they are out to make even more Security is what keeps them outof sight Politics and bribery is what shuts mouths Threats and fears ofrepercussions are what keeps people in their place That is the power they think thehave over everyonerested in holding onto ordinary jobs byHoing ordinary things- things they are told to do, day-to-day But they'll use anyonepoliticians, big and small businesses, the press, PR consultants, magazine andnewspaper editors, TV, the radio-they'll pay anyone to fake a story or for a piece oftions that thitheyappear

They'l hack phones and they'll record conversations And if all that doesnork then they'll bring in the really nasty elements-underworld characters who knownothing of what is going on but wholl do anything for the promise of big moneyIt is a sort of white-collar mafia made up of senior bureaucrats who have learnedthis form of crime With just a few sitting at the very top theucture of lesser fraudsters beneath, all kept in order by threats, blackmail, bribesFinding those at the topbe as difficult as we think, but they will beby a reputatiprofessionalism and status that has beendeliberately constructed toaccusations from outside look absurd andtotally inconceivable I triedations route and/ was the one made to lookAnd they are using technology, software, the internet- anything that will helpconceal what they are doing As for their helpers- the lesser fraudsters- they willwant to keep them in charge of the day to day operations They need all the systemsto appear to be working normally and efficiently, because they might one day need toexplain away security and bureaucratic failures and weaknesses they have beenruling over for years and to find plausible excuses for the vast sums of taxmoney they have lost and stolen That is when the complete innocents andlesser fraudsters will suddenly find fingers being pointed directly at them They wil

Milan, northern Italyde a meus warehouse behindacking and an assortment of cardboard boxes, sat a short, round man in an opelked white shirt that clung to himYah, of course it's me, Guido, " he snapped impatiently in Italian into a mobile phoneidden in the fold between his chin andke a boy whose voice had not yet brokenYah, Ive read it It's written in the language of the professional bureaucrat It isEnglish but not like the English we learn at school or the English we speak thatoni, my flower, is why you don 't understand it But Guido does Guido doeseyes shuthis ears Nono, no Guido sits reading shit like this-long words with many different meaningsle squat figure was seated behind a grey metal desk, his head overwhelmed by theoversized, high backed swivel chair, his short legs swinging, bareln electric fan wafted air, but it was not enough to stbeads of sweat running from his forehead Awkwardly, he extracted a whiteandkerchief from his trouser pocket, brushed back the greasy strands of black hairhat had fallen over his forehead slid the laptop computer that sat in front of him tone side and, swivelling slowly from sidedeckedunde of papers The phone was still tucked in the dampcomplimentary activities aimed at increasing effectiveness, quality, timeliness andvisibility ' Yah,thePicasso painting You ignore what Picasso said it was and you dream what it is toou

You let it say what you want it to say So, it is very good that it is written likethis It is useful for the businesstaxpayers have been forced to give them to spend has gone up- a lot If we ao oGuido paused, chuckled, flicked over a page But I see the money the pbenefit from all this i'li need to consider it and to do thatread it again or my brain wont work I also need a shit I'll call you backhe phone dropped from inside his chin but he caught it expertly in his hand and putit on the desk " Mmm, he muttered, rolling out of the chair Yah, too big lunch, tooch wine, e troppo caro, too expensive but affare fatto It was a bargain, a goodvestimentile rounded stomach that protruded over the tight belt of his trousers had beerhurting him for an hour He stuffed the phone into the pocket of his well filled shirtfelt the weight drag it down over his prominent left nipplegged to loosen itBut the shirt was stuck with moisture and didn 't move, so he ignoredpapers, he waddled towards the door, opened it, clattered down the flight ofmetal stairs, turned at the bottom amongst the metal racking and went into the toileelse in the building but he lockeddid his belt, droppeack trousers down to his ankles and sat downChe cazzo, " he swore as he started to read "Fucking English euro speakhe measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of theumanitarian Aid c7(1)ofon It is decided as fol

Sole Article Decision C(2013)4789 is amended as follows: In Article 1, paragraphs(1)and (2 )are replaced by the followingaccordance with the objectives and general principles ofnitarian alCommission hereby approves a maximum amount of EUR 759, 638, 745 of whichEUR 593, 600,000 from budget article 31 08 09, EUR 337, 700,000 from budgearticle 31 07 06 and eur 46, 237, 746 from budget article 26 09 07, of the 2013eneral budget of the european Uniontook five minutes to arrive at the last page He tore a few sheetsrom a roll on the wall, wiped himself, stood, pulled up his trousers,ny belt tight whilst holding the paperwork betweenacked out and, still carrying the papers in his teeth, clattered back up the metalstairs to the officAt the top, he leaned over the metal banister, scanned the floor of the warehousend chuckled to himselete floor was visiblbetween theacks, the area littered with pallets piled with cardboard boxes covereearastic film a row of boxes with the blue and gold european union logo anotherhowed "UNHCR"- the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees a thirdmarked with Red crosses and red crescents a fork lift truck stood idly betweenble doors anal door set into it that said Exitwarehouse was blido's high-pitched chuckling and an occasional loudmetallic, clicking sound from the hot tin roof, eerily quietle returned to the officee chair, swivelled, sweated flicked at a fly and reead one sheeten he pulled the phonehis shirt pocket andpressed a buttononi Yah This is the part Let me read it to you and because I know you canunderstand the fucking language, I'll put it in nice simple italian for yos it? Yah, here it is Now, got a pencil in your little hand? good Sitting down? Nowen to papaIt's the last part where it talks about- and excuse the fucking jargon -supportingexisting strategies that enable local communities and institutions to better preparefor, mitigate and respond to natural disasters blah blah See it? Now we know whathey are because we've dealt with them before See it now Yah now look at whatered that' s it- Caribbean Africa, South Asia

Right-and that'll bakistan or Bangladesh The bureaucrats won t worry about money going to ISIs, AlShabab, the taliban or Boko Haram- or any other of their like-minded friendslere was a pause during which the strange chuckle gurgled somewhere deepside his throat The pis of his round mouth puckeredsomething delicious and all the time he chatteSo, we must lick some of the cream off the top before it goes sour Tonirecycling- it's good for the environmentit is a lot of moneythe more there is these their jobandmore bureaucrats after than beforeit is good for the heart to know we create jobCHAPTER 5

n a rented room off a long corridor in a grey office block in Amsterdam adont of hs visitors, two Lebanese men, relaxed and watched, legs apart, fromlow backed chairs opposite One was playing with a string of brown beadsOK, it's set up the Belgian said You want the detailsofitting forwardhave a trustworthy friend in the Isle of Man who specialises in this type ofarrangement We recommend incorporating the company in Singapore That wayyou get what is known as a 'mid-shore'financial centre You'll get a good packagewith flexibility for a lot of offshore activity No tax You can move money wherAnd for fiveed dollars a month he continued You get an office addresshere in Amsterdam- probably this room where were sitting nothe calappear big to callers but be just one person trained by me SIoperate from wherever she happebe by call transfer to a mobile phone It worksne Were doing it for others right now No questions asked, just messages takenverything will be referred to you in Beirut or wherever you are As for accounts andauditing, everything will be done through the Isle of Man

It's all nice and safe For alappear sound well runsecure and aboveespectful of international law Where necessary we can also provide evidence ofa good trading history Just tell us what you wantHe sat back from his laptop, smiled and looked at the two men opposite So, arehe one who had remained sitting back playing with the beads now leaned forwardw much?et up two thousand dollars, office and call centre five hundred a month irrespectiveAuditing? That'll depend on hmake your financial affairs, Mr Farid, so I cannot say Like any business, keep ityou just one sheet of paper to take away and why i only take cash for todaysand set-up charges-as you already know He smiled again and placed theA4 sheet on the tableWhy notalled Farid asked as he pickedo expensive The industsorts of regulation and bad publicity None of us want that As part of my feeoney and any fionsHe paused Anythinghe two Lebanese looked at one another No, "they said, shaking their heads inWellwithg the laptBeirut now?No, we have a meeting in Milan, Farid said

made it, reversed the last few feet up to the doors rattled on a handle and waited fore with a tie and ofwhite shirt a puff of cool air-conditioned air wafted towards mitchell as the door wasscraped open and he stood for a second to appreciate it as the man in the suity, Mr Moses"svery hot today I have fifty-sixcomputersCharity I think that is you, Mr MosesMr moses was a man of few words "Over therereated for hcarrying the heavy boxes one by one into the darkrecesses of Rocki General Supplies warehouse as mr moses watched he piledthem as neatly as he could, but not too high in case they toppled when he hadnished, Mitchell went to the truck, swallowed the last drops from his water bottleand returned with his clip board for Mr Moses to sign the paperworkYou has one hundred and fifty boxes for me to collect, Mr Moses?As there was nowhere else to sit mitchell did as he was told and sat on a woodencrateFd before mr mosese your truck to the rearntrance There you will find one hundred and fifty boxesMoses?It does not matter

You must take them alSo began Mitchells next hassle-driving away, finding the firstand reversing up to the rear entrance of Rocki General Supplies where Mr Mosesas waiting foBehind Mr Moses were the one hundred and fifty boxes thMitchell thought might just fit inside his truck He removed his shirt and started worktook him an hour satisfied the boxes were stacked safely and soundly mitchelstood, wiped his sweating brow and then went inside to look for Mr Moses They isloaded Mr MosesMr Moses hapiece of paper with an address and Mitchell looked atAyyya! Sulima Construction Mr MMaybe I do not arrive today or tomorrow but the next dayfter a punctured tyre somewhere betweenMoyamba and Mano and trouble with his engine outside Sumbuya that he fixedhimsela piece of wire But resourceful as he was, he found SulimaConstruction It was a rectangular concrete block building with a corrugated roof in atter filled side street by the river that smelled of used engine oil and sea breezesBut it was not until he started unloading the one hundred and fifty bnoticed labels on some of the boxes Daisy Children, s Charity ', they saidCHAPTER 7

n Milan, Guido was also going about his daily businesse fold beneathwet with saliva Scrolling through pof words on his computer screen, he hadbeen babbling away to himself It suddenly stopped, he put his head to one side, hisear on the phoneOK YothereNow then scroll further down wheretal of eur57, 150,000 from budget article blah blah is allocated to improve the delivery of aidhrough transport and complimentary activities aimed at increasing effectivenessquality, timeliness and visibility of humanitarian actions Yah, thats it my friendttle friend akramneeds to organise theer details of the funding application- now, Toni, now not sit and wait or it'll be tooe Efficiency mattersiency oils the wheels If he does as he s told he can earnhimself a little more money to buy milk for his next new baby How many does hehave now? Six?here was a pause followed by another high-pitched chuckle as if Toni might haveadded a touch of humour thDoes Akram's first wife know about Akram's second wife's new baby, Toni?Nehought not But if he can ' t organise his private life then he needs to organise hisbusiness life You know what to do No time like the present The early bird will catce wormut his grass when the sun is shiought I liked Akrawhen I met him in Dubai He was a handsome and bright young man and I trainedhim very well But he is now very bad at dreaming up problems that don't exist Hewastes my fucking time and I can t tolerate him anymore

You deal with him and telhere was a short pause as he listened to the one called Toni, picked at a back toothail and sucked at whatever it was he extracteYah, and he has another weakness, Toni He needs to improve his understanding ofbanks His other boss oldly finance minister, is deak today at thebudget spbe expecting big things of Akram Thatmeans that our friendly Finance Minister is expecting big things of us- Toni andGuido So, you must speak to Akram, Toni Tell him you've spoken to Guido andGuido says I might promote him to Head of Operations North West Pakistan onenew Toyota and boast of his success to his stupid, impoverished neighbou/s o ndayHe"‖ like thatk home with pride, he can drive thest he needs to meet his targets oneone percent commission will be more than enough to feed a fifth baby by a third wifef he It can be a very fat baby But if he cannot meet his target, wto speak to people much higher up and they will not be as soft as guido Akram sthas two hands doesn t he? Can he work with onehere was another pauseAnd thenhere is that prick tawfik this bastard needs to be taught a lessongive him one more chance only Tellthis It is not right that owas lost Where has it gone? Tell me Tawfik is a very poor investmetwe have been in this business Tell him guido is very cross about him Yah Teloff his salaryoff his balls and spread rumoursfor the long ears of the provincial authorities and the police You knowthatmeans, Toni? Yah- they are very nasty people They are very, very nasty to those

become the dispensable, sacrificial offerings to muddy the waters and divertattentionwhile, but / always planned to come back to renew my campaigSo be aware Those fraudsters sitting at the top will not look like criminals As theyno about their public lives they will look and appear calm and normal because theyAnd even if massive fraud was proven, would they automatically lose their freedom,their jobs, their status, their pensions? No, not necessarily Because the entiresystem is designed to automatically cover up suchty and if it ever came topublic enquiries-which is unlikely -they would point fingers at each other and thenhide without fear of prosecution behind the complexity of the organisation ThingsSo, we will probably show that the whole system is at fault here Whether we can doall way really don 't know, but I'm damnedmillions of hard-working, honest, tax payers out there would support us in anythingwe do That is where our strength liesCHAPTERJim Smith, scrambling on all fours out of the mosquito net tent that was hisDreaming again, he muttered aloud into the total darkness as he fumbled for thetorch and the packet of painkillers he kept in a plastic bagutes before and fasad been feeding scraps of dry breadafalgar Square in London Wings were flapping feathers were flyingpigeons were sat on his head and his shoulders and bird shit was everywhereSomeone, maybe it was his wife Margaret, was standing nearby watching, clutchingher handbag, unfazed, untouched by eveby feral pigeon

He hadshouted to her amongst the dust and noise of flapping wings I need a cat,Margaret Put a cat amongst them No, no, second thoughts Switch on the fan, letas a familiar dream that had started in amight take offdifferent directback on track, the storyline much as always In anstant, he was no longer in Trafalgar Square but standing with his hands behind hisback looking down from a makeshift platform in a sports hall with five others as theyraited for an officer ofmorning- probably three in the morning when he was dreaming- and he could seecameras, reporters and bleary-eyed council staff the vote counters- looking atwatches wanting to go home And then it came In his dream, Jim Smith heard it as ifeby declare that james william Smith is duly electede Member ofParliament for the constituency of Amberley

le had woken up at that point because he remembered pushing his hand througho net to grab the bottle of water he had drunk halfateful for thecooling effect of the other half that dribbled down his beard and then fell asleepagain to a lullaby from a gecko chirping somewhere in the total darkness Bra flash he was back in London six thousand miles from his ramshackle hideoutral Thailand and back more than three years to the time of his election Then theJim Smith's qualifications as a modern politician were far from ideal For a start hewass sixties not his thirties, and he hadn 't

had the private education or thefluence ofeady wealthy and connected family Instead, JimSmith had spent thirty years running his own successful manufacturisInessstarted it myself and ran it myself with a hundred or so staff by the time I solds qualification for politics was, he believed, that having seen life at the sharp endd lived off his witsd, he could offer something differeof ambthere were downsides to being independently mindedember of the UK Parliament Having no big party affiliations meant having fewds But he hadnt cared He had made it perfectly clear at the outset

He was hiown man What you see is what you get Take it or leave it or just don' t vote for menext time Jim Smith had, though, stored up a few questions for government duringDespite all the apparent checks, balances and bureaucracy behind the provision ofmillions of Euros and dollars of tax payer s money is regularly finding its way into thepockets of foreign criminals then there is something profoundly wrong with theystem And if evidence shows that certain politicians and unelected bureaucrats areks in this organised criminalty what will he do?hat was how he had put the cat amongst the pigeons and when thead hit theSmith had touched sensitive nerves nerves that seemedthat the quiet, undisturbed and lucrativeey had enjoyed for a longme had suddenly been disturbed by an untamed political animal that had just comeHe expected some immediate action and got it, but it was not what he expectederhaps it had been political naivety, but he immediately realised he had touched thesensitive nerves of some very influential, unknown and invisible people And whatou do wihained and dangerous animal on the loose that wasthreatening your way of life?hat dreamot, airless wooden house on stilts in the deeply rural province ofKanchanaburihailand where Jim Smith now lived had stopped there buthere were the sweaty nightmares of shouting pushing and shoving of flashingcameras and thrusting microphones and there were the cold sweaty nightmares ofle scandal loving tabloid newspapers There was the nightmare that depictedSmith Member ofbungling amateur with no pollof grudges, no recognised party behind him and only self-interest at heart The only

part that Jim ever agreed with was that he was on a steep learning curve aboutpolitics and the self-interests of othersBut he had always been an obstinate man and there was enough evidence toconvince himself, if not others, of a climate of corruption and he knew he hadtrodden on some very big toes It all added to the feeling that there was somethinge obstinate jimke a dogat five thirty, had wokerto his throbbing headache was no product of a vividnocturnal imagination Jim had been dreaming about actual eventsee yearsYes, he acknowledged he may hayhe about it the wrong way His first questionestions time- PMQ- was an example The Speaker haderrupted him Order, order Mr Smith, please This is Prime Minister's QuestionsPlease do not beat about the bush What is your question?the cold sweaJim Smith squirmed "Alster please ask the Europe Minister and the minister for Internatiolevelopment to comment on evidence of criminality in the granting and useand other international aid funds and instigate a full investigationhe Prime Minister stood up, Yes, I'll ask them Then he sat down to cheers fromides No wonder Jim had suffered from night-time sweats for three yecident he had tried't he wrote a letteMinisters seeking help to investigate his concerns and he talked to douglasCreighton his local constituency chairman about it, but Douglas was showing signshat he thought he was going about things in thest focus onconstituency matters for now, Jim Why not forget the big issues for the time beinge living nightmare entered another phase two days after his discussion withDouglas It was nearly midnight when his mobile phone rang in the tiny apartmentondon where he stayed during the week

Margaret, he thought, and checked hiswatch It was a bit lates wife to phone and not many people knew his mobiwas a man' s voice "Mr Smith?You must stop these accusations, Mr Smith No good will come of it Stop now oIface the consequencesJim stunned "Who is this?placing accents was good The man was possibly French-speakingBelgian"Stop the questions, Mr Smith For your sake, for your family's sake, stopnow You have been warned "Then the caller rang ofJim had stared at the phone andked the callerber butd beerwithheld Crank he said to himself forgot about it anded on reading paperscond call came two days lates time he was at padeto catch a train to go home to wiltshire for the weekend Mr Smith? It was the sameWe've been docheckdSmith TechnoAfrica and the middle eastOh? Yes, I see Jim had stopped walking, put his case down, moved the phone tohis better, left ear, pushed his long, grey hair back " Who am I speaking to?

You had good business in South Africa, Mr Smith but there was some sort ofomment And there was another lady a miss dilini de silva not South african butom somewhere else do you know who I' m talking about?No, of course not Who am I speaking to? What is your name, please?ort thabout business activities in africa and the middle east You wicourse, be onlytoo aware of bribery and corruption lawBack off, Mr Smith Back off You've already been warnedBack offconsequenceser, whoever it was had finishedSometimes, at that point in the cold sweat of the nightmares in the hut in thailande would force himself to wake up, switch on the torch saroundwatch the dust particles in the beam, see a large spider or another geckond made a coffee or just switched the torch off and triedsleep agaIwas often useless The headache had already startedealt with He hadhad a pleasant enough dinner with them at their house in Capeown a few times But who on earth had dredged up this almost forgotten name fromthe past and why The last time he'd heard from Walter Vos was-what?-six yearsand the last time he'd seen Maago

Walter had sold the business He and margo had split up But as for anythingoward between himself and margo vos the suggestion was ludicrolAnd then the other name mentioned? dilini something? the name rang a distant belsomewhere in Jim Smith's mind, but having been married to Margaret for thirty yearslome near Swindon, Margaret had appeared tetchymost of the day She hardly spoke over lunch He tried to talk to her at one point andven thought he might raise the idea of a rare break, a holiday or something but thephone had rung and margaret got up quickly to answer it It was a friend of hers Asusual he didn ' t listen but he finished his lunch alone, took his plate to the kitchen andwent into his study Margaret was still on the phone Thinking her mood wassomething that just happened occasionally with no good reason, he spent the rest ofthe afternoon thereleft Margaret said nothing but closed the front door before he'd eventhe carble He spent the night in the gloucester Road flat but on Mondaywas at a conference on international trade in reading where he had been asked topeak on his experiences of exporting to Africa he had enjoyed the experience andhe opportunity of mixing with businesses, but, becausewith press coverage, he hadn t bothered to read any of the daysBy monday evening, though, and no longer able to resist checking them, he bought abundle of dailies outside gloucester road tube station walked to the flat and as healked, checked the tabloid And, yes, there was yet another cartoon of himselfthat paper, he had become a running joke It was his long grey hair they found

amusing or useful Not that it was, in his opinion, too long He had worn it like that foryears and liked it that way It was just that it had become greyer and thinner and heder michael Foot this was, Jimsaid and done that was important not how one lookedhe pile ofhe swilled out a dirty mug that had lain on its side in the sink since eitoay m our n ostill dripping onto the kitchen table, opened the fridge to find it almost empty exceptb of buttermarmalade and a carton ofle tipped two spoons full of coffee into the wet cup and stoodwaiting for the sound of the kettle to come to the boil Instead, it was a familiar voiceon the tv that he heardSo, what have yoy regarding the allegations abotJim rushed from the kitchen to stand in front of the Tv Margaret was standingsurrounded by pushing reporters, microphones and tv cameramen It was clear theyhad been waiting for her to either arrive home or come out to speak to them but shelooked flushed and unsure how to deal with the situation Jim fhair to watch Margaret was standing by the gate leading to the gravel drivewayhouse The all so familiar blue cedar, the centre piece of their front garden, wasehind her The front door of the house could be seen as the camera moved to keepMargaret in the centre of the screePlease, he heard her say, I can't say anything just now

Please move awaypIctures in the pressYes, he heard his wife saySo, will you be standing by your husband?Is he expected home this evening? Are you shocked by the pictures?Jim, in London, watched the scene unfolding from his chair "What pictures?"reporter supporting her elbow What can I say?Margaret said " I am shockally don't want to say I would ask you to pleasee what to do nothing has been normectionAre you standing by your husband Were you aware of indiscretionsassed people microphones and cameras to the front door of their house Forget lWhat indiscretions? Jim Smith, watching helplessly, saw his wife push herabout his boiling kettle, he switched the tv off,ck into the chair and put bothands over his face behind his hands he felt readurst into tears and remainedhere for a minute or two, struggling with anger and a deep feeling of responsibilityfor Margaret What was happening to him and to margaret? He tried to phone her butwas disconnected He tried her mobile It was switched off and whatictures? What were they talking about He picked up theewspapers from

he coffee table and went straight to the tabloid He had not made the front page bihere it wasge 2-a picture and a headline-"Smith's Night Outle picture showed him, or someone identical, with his arm around the shoulders ofyoung blonde lady She was laughing He wasg His face looked directly ather as though he was about to kiss her His hair was swept back with a partingad never ds entire life It had been taken in a nightcluboho at around midnight a few weeks ago the report saile paper nad only nowdecided to publisbecause, faced with other controversy surrounding thendependent MP Jim Smith' they felt it was now in the public interest to do somped into the chair; the paper half crumpledhim he had never been inside such a club in his life bars and sohen abroadwith clients, yes, but only occasionally It went with the job But he had no idea whatwent on in clubs of that sort in Soho in London He again tried calling margaret onhe homee and mobile

Both were still switched off He tried douglas clbut Douglas had just gone on holiday Next morning30 he had driven downItshire to find Margaret, desperate to talk to her and to ask her why she had saidngs, to console her, to tell her it was all lies and it would all blow over soolBut whethe found theate to the housendedpushing and jostling for comments and trying to get him to confirm the finer detailsabout his apparent relationship with a night club hostess called Polly And margaretas not there when, at last, he got inside the house and he had no idea whereHe left and, surrounded by the same reporters, he had swornand then raisedhis hand to force his way through the melee And, of course, it was all caught oncamera and they then reported his swearing and that he had hit a reporterHe denied everything but, in reporting his denials, they would add other bits toggest that there might be other as yet untold stories about infidelities andunderhley asked him where Margathe said he didnt know Then they asked him for details about the club hostess aof course, he denied ever having been there and told them that he did not even knowwhere it was And they all took notes and held microphones and voice recorders inont of his facebeing turned totally upside down He had no idea where Margaret waand no-one seemed to know the broad sheet papers seemed generally to ignoresubject but by the following weekend all the tabloids were picking it up And thenhey published another photograph of the same young blonde haired girl, posing in ahort red dressJim remembered staring in disbelief at the picture after a researcher, Ann, handed itate in the evening just as the morning papers hit the London streetshanded it to him and then left his office, shutting the door-loudly Jim would alwaysemember her disgustction and that particicident would retto both hauntAnd then the same blonde girl called Polly was in all the papers for what seemed likedays She sold her so-called story-her short, sad, life historyty polly the tabloids had called her and sheShe said he had arrived late at night on several occasions and always sat with heShe liked him and thought he was good fun but she had no idea he was a politician

She came from dagenham and her mother and father were divorced and her otheloyfriend was a policeman Jim had read it all, over and over again, but he hadnever seen hegradually a sense of hitting back drove him to sit and think clearly for the firstfor a week The alleged visit to the club was June 8th and he consulted his diaryAround 7pm he hadwith a German newspaper about fundingoverseas development because, by then, his reputation for being a stirrer in this areawas becowidely known He also knew that by 9pm, he had returned to hisoffice to recover some papers As usual he had sat and read things for a while buthad then taken a taxi to the flat in gloucester road he must have arrived there athirty There had beeranswered It had been one of the quietest days and nights for weekshe knewe hadn t left the flat after ten thirty and certainly not to visit a nightclub in SohoCHAPTER 2Six thousand miles from where Jim Smithd his morning headache, stooda vast glass and concrete office block bedecked with flags of different nationsnside it Committee room 4/116 was identical to committee rooms 4/115 and4/117 and allch fourth-floor rooms The focal point of each of the rooms wasan oval table made of seasoned ash encircled by twelve chairs also made of ashwith dark blue leather paddingle corner of each room stood the essentialmachine for coffee and chilled water, the smaller table standing alongside eaclthine being for plates of biscuits, cookies and sandwiches for meetings that tookan the two-hour bookable slots or extended over luncn room 4/116

the director general known as the dghundreds of staffhat ultimately reported to him had settled in the middle chair on one sideable facing the door and wall clock He was a slim, ordinary looking, middle-agedman with greying hair receding from his forehead and wearing wide rimmed glassesdark suit, white shirt and pale blue, silk tie The heavy gold cuff links matched thewatch To his left, sat Katrine Nielsen- Danish, prim, uplair hair tied neatlyack in a clasp, in her late twenties and wearing a dark grey trouser suit and whiteblouse In front of them, a pile of papers with seven grey folders, a laptop computerd two cups of coffeetake the Liberia one first, Katrine, "the DG said "Almost a foregone conclusioAnd we'll discuss the smaller, Climate Change one from Yemas if it needs more work Certainly, that was Lisa's opinion when I spoke to heyesterday afternoone dG looked at the clock on the wall the room had been booked4pm It was2pm but two hshould be enough to discuss, approve and sign offOnly twelve million, six hundred thousand Euros, so it shouldn't take very long Butnot a bad afternoons work, Katrine What do you think?

Yes, assuming they are all approved, Katrina replied and looked at him as hebbled over his calculation and obliterated itlere are they? "he asked, meaning the six other officers whose presence wasnecessary to comply with the procedures for vettingg bids for international aidSome of them were at an earlier meeting on renewable energy, Mr Eischmann Itshould have finished at midday Perhaps it overran and they were late gettinghone Carlos, will you Katrine? Tell him were here and waiting He needs to get histeam working together Oh, and by the way, about that guy Jan Kerkman Ivepoken to him he should fit into the team quite nicelyKatrine just noddeddoor opened andeven folders Among them was the tall, athletic form of Jan Kerkman- newlyBy 210pm, with thetial coffees teas andits organised around thepaperwork, the meeting beganBy 3

50pm Katthe valueelevenndred aforecast the yemeni one was defethe grounds that it had failed to complywith one pre-set condition Katrine duly notedand that a re-application with the missing elements in place woe consideredprovided it was received within three monthsBy 4pm, the DG, Dirk Eischmann, was the only person left in the room He removedhis glasses, rubbed his eyes and then got up to look out of the big window and downinto the street and heavy afternoon traffic below Thepapers, he left Committee Roolsecurity card over a doorway and walked down a carpeted corridor to a door with asign over it confirming his name and titleOnce inside, he dropped everythingdesk Then he opened a drawer, took outa bottle of 21-year-old Glen Scotia Scotch whisky and a crystal tumbler, pouredhimself a glassful and sat sipping it for a few minutes At 425pm he returned thebottle and empty glass to the drawer, got up, closed the door of his office and left thebuildinCHAPTER 3le strong coffee Jim Smith made himself every morning had helped to quell hisrobbing headache, but he still wasn 't feeling particubledunsteadily down the four wooden steps that led from the ramshackle huthe called home, to the ground Shading his sore eyes from the hot, early morningun,he struggled to pull his motorcycle out from where, duringtoppled and come to rest againsthe worm-infested stilts that supported theevaporated- that was until, after parking the motorcycle amongst an untidy group of