The Allegation: A John Mackworth novel

by Tony Davies

  Chapter forty

  Revelation

  The daily newspapers were laid out on the coffee table in Westminster’s reception area. The South China Morning Post and the Financial Times were predominantly displayed and lesser publications such as the Hong Kong Daily News were at the bottom of the pile. People were rarely kept waiting for a meeting at Westminster so the chances of someone finding the time to read any of the papers was remote. Nevertheless, they had always been placed there and would continue to be as long as Andrew Weston remained in charge.

  At precisely 8.17m, a young Chinese girl rushed into the reception area. She was no more than twenty two or twenty three years of age and was wearing a blue knock off version of a Gucci suit and brown Jimmy Choo platform shoes. She immediately headed for the coffee table and rummaged through the newspapers. On seeing the Hong Kong Daily News she heaved a sigh of relief, before furtively looking around the room. There was no one else in the reception and for a moment she hesitated. With the harsh words of her boss that she was not to open the newspaper ringing in her ears, she turned to page three.

  At 8.21am the newspaper was laid in front of Weston and Bent. By 8.27am the firm lawyers had been consulted and by 9.10am the editor of the Hong Kong Daily News had been told to withdraw the article from its web site or face the consequences. There was little that could be done about the newspapers already in circulation. The matter of damages was another issue and that would be addressed through the courts.

  ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

  At 9.15 am Mack, Lindy and Ping were sat in the boardroom. Mack was slumped in his chair and was wondering what time they would finish that day. He was expecting a text from Em regarding them meeting for dinner. He was not looking forward to the experience. He had put two and two together and had decided where Em fitted into everything. Now he had to decide how to deal with it.

  Mack gathered his thoughts and said “I think we should look closely at two things. The first is for any reports of conflicts between the company and its senior people and the other is the financial statements each person provides.”

  Lindy looked puzzled when she queried “Okay, what do we know what about those?”

  Mack’s reply was “Everyone has a monthly report on them prepared by their boss. The reports seem quite frank, even brutal in some cases. They don’t mince their words as we like to say. If we have a disgruntled employee there should be a reason for it in the files.

  “When they join, or are promoted to the right level, senior people have to fill in a statement of assets with details of shares, properties etc. they own. They also have to provide details of their bank and share trading accounts etc. They have to update these every three months. I assume that is to deter people from accumulating wealth through inside trading or whatever.

  “It doesn’t of course, because no‐one would be stupid enough to put the proceeds in one of those accounts, but I suppose it satisfies their insurers and shareholders that they are treating insider trading seriously.

  “Someone in Bent’s team regularly checks the statements and where there are apparent discrepancies the person is asked for an explanation and that is included in the file. You should know that there is a file there for Bent, although as you would expect, it doesn’t contain as much information as the others.

  “If we each take an individual file and then swap them around when we have finished reading it, we can discuss all three in turn, if you get what I mean.”

  Lindy smiled as usual. “It may take a while, but that way one of us might pick up something someone else may have missed.”

  They all nodded in agreement and Lindy put three files in the center of the table.

  By 1pm they had reviewed six files and it was slow, painstaking work. Ping’s level of English was more than adequate to read the files, but his lack of experience and confidence meant he was happy for the other two to dominate the group discussion of each employee.

  Lindy ordered four rice boxes for lunch and the old, grizzly delivery boy, who was at least sixty years of age, delivered the food at 1.30pm. Ah Ping brought it into them and they ate in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

  At 3.30pm Mack was reading an asset statement when he suddenly stopped and looked up. He got up and slowly walked to the window, as if something was on his mind. He quietly cursed himself as he looked out of the window. The street below was teeming with people and he was glad he was in an air‐conditioned office rather than outside.

  Lindy said to him “What’s up? You got something?” “Yes, but I don’t know what.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There something I just found that rings a bell, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

  Lindy quickly said “Okay, trust me on this. Close your eyes and let your mind go blank.”

  Mack looked at her with a skeptical look on his face before doing as he was told.

  “Now, picture yourself in an empty room with white walls. You look around the room and you have a sense of peace. There is no sound, there is nothing but the white walls. Can you feel how quiet it is, no distractions just you and the white walls.” She paused for a moment and then spoke in a soft voice. “Now turn around and look at the wall behind you. What do you see?”

  Mack’s eyes shot open and he blurted out “Got it!” He paused and said “Nothing!” Her pencil hit him in the chest and he laughed.

  “Sorry, needed something to lighten things up. I am sure we will find something, I am just not sure what it is yet.”

  Ping laughed but stopped when it dawned on him Lindy may not have found it funny.

  “Then stop acting like a little boy and get back to work.” Mack could detect the humour in her voice and they all smiled.

  Chapter forty one

  Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated

  The board meeting was scheduled for 3pm, but by 3.30 the Indonesians had not arrived and Weston wondered what was wrong. They were usually very punctual and since he assumed they had arrived that morning he couldn’t see why they would be late for the meeting.

  The minutes ticked by until 4.15 when his secretary buzzed him to say the Indonesians were in the boardroom. He sat there quietly for a moment before getting up and walking slowly to the door. As he walked down the corridor he felt like a condemned man walking to the gallows. He told himself he was being irrational. He had built the company from scratch and the Indonesians knew that. They wouldn’t do anything rash that would affect their investment.

  As he opened the boardroom door he saw five people sat at the end of the table. The four Indonesians and Bent were deep in conversation and all of them looked up as he entered. Bent’s presence startled him as he usually waited to be invited into such meetings.

  They all shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, but there was none of the usual good humour in their exchange and Weston could feel the tension in the room.

  The de facto leader of the group had traditionally been Hendri Irawan. His family was the richest amongst the four shareholders. He had studied at Oxford and spoke almost perfect English. He and Weston had become friends of a sort and always had dinner together after every board meeting.

  Hendri eased back in his chair, straightened his tie and looked around at his fellow shareholders. He was in his early 40’s and was being groomed to take over as the family patriarch. The other shareholders knew this and were quite happy for him to take the lead role.

  He turned to Weston and said “Andrew, we know you have been having some trouble recently. We thought we had better come and see how our investment is doing.”

  Weston simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t going to play their game. Whatever they were up to they could lay it out on the table. He certainly wasn’t going to help them. But there was one thing he needed to clear up immediately.

  “What is Paul doing here? I didn’t ask him to attend.” “We did.”


  Their eyes met and something in Hendris’s expression made Weston realize his premonition had been right. In Hendri’s mind, he was headed for the gallows.

  Bent began to say something, but Hendri raised his hand to stop him and then said in a calm voice “We want Paul here, but he doesn’t need to say anything just yet. Let me summarise how we see things.”

  Weston continued smiling at them softly. This was going to be a very interesting meeting. Majority shareholders hold considerable power and whilst Hendri and his friends had never tried to exercise it before, there was a first time for everything.

  “The Paradise Cove project is, how shall I put it, dead in the water? We supported you on that and the company will lose a considerable amount of money from the farce that resulted. The comment from the government makes Westminster a mockery and we will lose much face in Hong Kong and in Indonesia. There will also be no more government business for us, which will mean a fall in profits unless you can pull a rabbit out of a hat. I doubt even you are that good. Why were you so stupid to approach it this way? Couldn’t you see what would happen?”

  Weston remained silent. He wanted to know the full extent of the problem before he responded, if indeed he responded at all.

  “Let me go on. In addition to that farce, the shares of two of our investments have fallen precipitously for no apparent reason. We can only surmise that the market has lost confidence in you and people are bailing out while they can. You haven’t been able to stop the losses and soon there will be runs on some of our other investments.”

  He paused for effect before saying “I believe you are in personal financial difficulty over the shares you own in these companies. The bank is about to call in its loans and we are not sure you have sufficient funds to cover your losses. Whilst we certainly do not want your problem to become public knowledge, it would be foolish for us to bail you out under the current circumstances. You are on your own with that one.

  “There is also the little matter of notification. Under our agreement you are obliged to tell us when you invest in companies where we, that is Westminster, have a shareholding. You declared your initial purchase, but you have since bought considerably more behind our backs. This is in direct breach of our agreement.”

  Weston glanced at Bent for a brief moment and instantly regretted doing so. There was nothing to be gained by showing Hendri that he assumed Bent was the source. The truth was that he had bought more shares, but that had only been to support the price since the run had started.

  Technically, he should have told the Indonesians, but he wanted to determine what was going on before he did so. That was an error of judgment, but it didn’t mean it was motivated by personal greed. Still, there was no point in saying anything until Hendri had finished, however long that took.

  “So now we have incompetence and lack of business judgment, followed by declining market confidence in you, deceit and breach of our agreement.

  “I would like to think that is everything, but unfortunately, there is more to come. This morning’s Daily News article is the coup de grace. It wouldn’t matter if you were having an affair with someone’s wife, but a rent boy from Thailand!”

  The indignation and ridicule in Hendri’s voice startled Weston for a moment.

  He was about to respond when Hendri said “The whole world now knows about your sordid little affair with your boyfriend Tee. You are not the first CEO to have a gay lover and you won’t be the last. But in your position it shows a distinct lack of professionalism that you got caught. Why on earth couldn’t you keep it under wraps! Look at the damage you have done to our company! You are the laughing stock of Hong Kong!”

  Weston fought to retain his self-control. He looked at Bent and sadly shook his head.

  Bent responded by saying “This is not what you think it is.”

  Before he could say anything further Hendri raised his hand again and said to Weston “You probably feel you have been ambushed this afternoon, but a man of your supposed business acumen should never have left himself exposed like this.

  “We have spoken to our lawyers this morning. We now formally advise you that you have forty-eight hours to call a full board meeting at which we expect you to satisfy us that our investments are in safe hands. If you fail to do so, and we doubt you will be able to, we expect you tender your resignation with immediate effect.

  “We have someone who can step in and replace you and we will exercise our pre-emptive right to buy your shares at fair market value. I should point out that they are worth lot less now than they were a week ago.”

  Weston made no attempt to reply and merely continued smiling at them.

  Sensing that Weston was not going to comment, the four Indonesians got up and left the room without shaking hands with him.

  Weston stood up and said to Bent “Interesting meeting. I have a feeling this is going to turn out very bad for everyone except me.” He turned and walked briskly out of the room.

  Chapter Forty two

  It has been a long day

  They reviewed the files until 7pm without success. Weston had sent over another five files and they had checked them meticulously. Nothing stood out as unusual.

  Mack had a nagging feeling that he was missing something. It was floating in the back of his mind, but as he tried to grasp it, it moved away. It wasn’t the answer, but it was the connection that would link the dots.

  Lindy had a dinner engagement so they decided to wrap it up for the evening and approach it again in the morning.

  He left the office and walked towards his apartment. Queens Road East was crowded as usual but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the exercise after having spent most of the day sat in the boardroom.

  As he turned the corner into Starr Street he received a text from Em to say she was outside his building waiting for him. He grimaced. He had meant to call her to cancel their dinner, but he had forgotten.

  He stopped walking and put his hands on his hips. He breathed in deeply and groaned. Everything seemed to be going wrong. They had ground to a halt and they were now being re-active rather than pro-active. They needed to make something happen. The answer might be in the files, but they couldn’t find the answer and he was feeling exhausted and deflated.

  He was about to text her when he saw her walking towards him. She was waving and her smile was in direct contrast to his dark mood. As she got near him she said “Hi. I thought I would surprise you.”

  “You certainly did that. In more ways than one.”

  The tone of his voice startled her and she stepped back. “What’s the matter?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were the efficient, upper class Ms Martin that was dealing with Lindy?” His voice conveyed his sense of betrayal. “Sent by your boss to spy on me. That is why you wouldn’t tell me who you worked for.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes and she cried softly “I don’t know what you mean?”

  “Don’t play with me. Weston gave the game away and everything fell into place. Our first meeting, me getting assaulted, Insomnia, abbreviating Ms Martin to Em or M as you put in your texts. Everything fits. Was sleeping with the enemy part of the plan from the outset or was that just improvisation?”

  She started sobbing and turned away. “Are you mad? What are you saying? You think I lied to you or conned you in some way? Grow up will you!”

  “Yeah, I will grow up alright. It is over. Go spy on someone else.”

  He brushed past her and left her standing in the street. He didn’t turn back as he entered his building and slowly climbed the stairs to his apartment.

  …………………………………………………………………………………………….

  Mack sat on his roof and brooded. Don would have called it ‘drowning his sorrows’. It never worked, but that was no excuse for not trying. He was on his eighth beer and the more he drank the clearer things became, or so it seemed

  He had caused Sam Ng’s death. Sure he was a vile
and despicable creature, but did he deserve to die like that? Did anyone deserve that sort of death?

  He had endangered Debbie’s life, simply because of his ego. Protecting his client’s interests! He couldn’t hide behind that. It was sheer arrogance he hadn’t told Don earlier. He knew best, he always had. That is why he hadn’t told him. He wanted to show everyone he had all the answers.

  Yet despite all the skills he had accumulated over the years, he hadn’t been able solve the case. He couldn’t solve a simple ’who done it’.

  As for Em, the look of utter disbelief on her face as he brushed past her repulsed him. They thought he was an idiot and had used him as their pawn. They were right. He was an idiot, but he had eventually worked out their duplicity. Too late now though, the damage had been done.