Plantation A Legal Thriller
Page 74
Chapter 74
By the time they reached Athens again after getting stuck in the late rush hour traffic heading from the airport, it was around eight o’clock. On the way, they’d discussed their meeting with Nikos and his wife the next day and how they could get them both out of the country safely, once Christoforou had been identified and somehow arrested by the police.
Stefanides was quietly pleased that the work of actually tracking down the ship’s master wouldn’t have to be done by him and was being paid for by Ashby. They now knew for certain that Christoforou was alive. All that was needed was to hand him over to the police and Stefanides would collect his hundred thousand. The prospect of getting his money was drawing closer.
In comparison, his client had mixed feelings : he was pleased that they were getting nearer to exposing the fraud. Then they could get the judgment dissolved, go after Hellas Global and have them all locked up and their assets confiscated. He would destroy them and their villainous operations as far as he could and recover the two hundred thousand dollars he’d spent on proving their guilt.
At the same time, he felt remorse at having turned upside down the lives of two innocent people who were now embroiled in the Captain Stratos affair. For this reason, he felt miserly for not agreeing the hundred thousand they’d wanted. He didn’t blame them for doubling the price of the information : their lives were at stake, not his. And he decided that he would get them their hundred thousand somehow, once Christoforou was safely behind bars and the High Court judgment was out of the way.
The next day, he made his way to the Perikles Hotel to see Stefanides at ten o’clock. After going over the day’s arrangements, the barman’s wife rang at the appointed time and was given directions on where they would all meet. Overnight, they’d left their flat at a secure location and had stayed with her mother while getting ready to leave Athens, perhaps never to return.
Stefanides warned Ashby again that they had to assume someone was monitoring their movements, day and night. It was imperative to take extra precautions to ensure the safety of their informants. The Captain had friends who would protect him. And Elefthriou would do all he could to keep the conspiracy hidden. They would be desperate to avoid being arrested.
The essence of the plan was speed in tracking down Christoforou : they would have him arrested, persuade him to confess and then send his signed statement to Meredith and Riordan, ask for the judgment to be withdrawn and get Nikos and his wife safely on their way to Canada.
Meanwhile, back in London, at the offices of Ridgeford Anthony, Frances Keen had been going through the appeal papers received from Meredith three days earlier. From what she could see, there was nothing especially troubling about the arguments or points of law which Plantation was raising. Its only hope of success rested with producing evidence of fraud by Hellas Global which Ashby so steadfastly maintained.
Even so, the mere mention of the word had alarmed Millward, Ridgeford’s partner. At the post-hearing celebrations at a restaurant in Mayfair, he’d carefully raised the matter with Wellbourne and Grant. It sounded like sour grapes from Ashby which was only to be expected – but was there anything in what he was alleging ? Did they think that any of it could be true ?
The brokers laughed and told Millward not to worry. But when they returned to Liverpool Street Station together, they talked over one or two doubts they had but agreed not to say anything publicly.
As for Elefthriou who was Ridgeford’s client, Millward saw him privately the next day at his office with Frances Keen and Garrick. Using the transcript taken at the hearing, they went over every single point which had been raised about fraud by Riordan and Ashby.
“I hear that Robert Ashby has gone back to Athens,” said Elefthriou.
“Oh indeed ? Who told you that ?”
“I can’t remember – it was probably an underwriter.”
“Obviously he thinks there’s something there to support his allegations. Do you know why he’s gone back there ? What would he be looking for ?”
“Perhaps he’s going to meet that mysterious fellow, Kyriacou he mentioned at the hearing, Mr Millward. It’s all very strange, isn’t it ? Why would someone go to his hotel and say that they worked for our company when we’ve never heard of them ?”
“You don’t know anyone named Kyriacou ?”
“Oh, it's a common enough name in Greece. But no, there’s no-one of that name working for me.”
At the end of the session, none of the lawyers were privately convinced that Elefthriou was telling the truth. Whether he was or wasn’t, didn’t much matter : there was no definitive proof that he’d been lying. And without that, he would be given the benefit of the doubt.
As a warning to Ridgefords, Garrick said they should be ready in case Plantation came up with the proof which Ashby had vowed to deliver sooner or later. Until that happened, they needn’t worry.
A day earlier, before his meeting with Ridgefords, Elefthriou had lunch with Nigel Black at a small pub in the countryside near Walton-on-Thames. They’d casually talked about the progress of their plan thus far. Black had mentioned Ashby’s departure on a flight at the start of the week. Ashby’s secretary said she didn’t know where he’d gone but after everyone had left the office, Black had seen the flight invoice for Athens and that he was to be staying at a hotel in Omonia called the Perikles.
“Omonia isn’t a place where tourists go – assuming that he’s doing a bit of sightseeing. Now why would he want to stay there ?”
“Who can say ?” said Black. “But I’m sure you’ll be able to find out all about it, won’t you – and set everything right – but don’t overdo it. If he comes back to London looking damaged, everyone will start asking questions here and we don’t want that, do we ? We just want the appeal to be kicked out and then to collect what’s coming to us.”
“I understand. Leave it to me. Some influence in the right direction, shall we say, should be enough to fix things for us.”