Whistleblower

by Terry Morgan

CHAPTER 73

  Jan's note, scribbled on a scrap of paper had been in his pocket all morning. Twice, he had walked along the corridor, past the open door of Katrine's office and looked in. On his third walk by she saw him. He stopped briefly, looked at her, nodded his head and walked on. Seconds later he walked back and, as she stood at the door, he passed her the note..

  It was now evening and he was waiting, sheltering beneath an umbrella from rain that had been falling for most of the day. Behind him, the Bar a Tapas, but he had no wish to go in.

  "We'll walk, Kat." he said when Katrine arrived. "There are too many eyes and ears and it's just as dangerous for you for us to be seen together." They walked under one umbrella, Katrine with her arm hooked in Jan's.

  "I'm going to disappear, Kat," Jan said as they walked along the sodden footway that reflected the bright lights of shops, restaurants and bars.

  "But where? What will you do?"

  "Where? I'm not sure. But I'm going to continue where I left off and I'd like to leave behind a mess that someone will need to explain." He looked down at her. She was still holding his arm, tightly.

  "Your friend in Treasury," he went on, "The one who noticed the mysterious cash movements." Katrine nodded. "She might notice something happening again. It would be useful if she was ready, waiting and watching."

  Jan stopped walking, pulled Katrine towards the brightly lit window of a clothing shop where models stood, posing in long skirts, winter coats and scarves. He took out a slip of paper.

  "This is how I get instructions, Kat - on a piece of paper from a dog that sits in the Warandepark with a blind Somali. I'm now a qualified fraudster who's able to move vast amounts of ring-fenced money to whoever and wherever someone tells me. All I need is a code and an amount."

  Katrine stared at the slip of paper.

  "You remember the Central Asia Humanitarian Aid Fund?" Jan continued. "Hundreds of millions for the refugee and natural disaster support facility in Pakistan that is supposed to be ready for the next disaster - an earthquake or a flood. If you recall, amounts are drawn down in phases from the central fund by the Ministry. Is anyone checking that the amounts drawn down are being properly accounted for? Who checks invoices against materials supplied and jobs done? And who ultimately signs things off - a Minister? Who is it? Do we know? Could it be possible that many of those responsible are working together to defraud the system and so covering for one another?

  "But that's not all, Kat. I can log onto the system in my own office, tap in a few codes and a sum of money and - as someone I have recently got to know says - like a puff of smoke, it'll disappear. Where? I won't know, but it's certainly not going where it should. But one thing is for sure. Dirk Eischmann is at the centre of it. He's probably making millions. The amount shown here - all 150,000 Euros of it - might well be going straight into his Cayman Islands bank account for all I know. On the other hand it might be going somewhere to spread amongst a hundred other small players. It's sophisticated, organised and almost undetectable international fraud."

  The look on Katrine's face in the light from the window was incredulous. "I don't know what to say, Jan. It's unbelievable."

  "Oh, no, it's totally believable, Kat. I know because I'm doing it. But I'm doing it because it's the only way to prove it happens." Jan pulled the sodden umbrella lower and looked straight into Katrine's eyes. "I need some help, Kat. I need the help of your friend in Treasury because I have an idea that'll prove that money that becomes hard cash goes out but is replaced almost instantly by worthless electronic money just to balance the account. The system has been hacked, but, worse than that, it isn't being fixed because certain people do not want it fixed. And it's such a sophisticated hack that it almost covers its tracks. This is not like someone stealing money from your private bank account or your credit card. Once that's gone it's gone but you notice it. This is so clever that when the auditors finally come to check, it will either not show up at all or it will appear as just another inexplicable loss that the powers that be will, when asked for an explanation, shrug and say, as they always do, that losses are inevitable. It's not good enough, Kat."

  "What will you do?"

  "Make the transfer as instructed and video what I'm doing."

  "What can I do?"

  "Talk to your friend in Treasury, but only if you are absolutely sure you can trust her. She must say or do nothing except through you. Can you trust her?"

  "I think so."

  "Be sure, Kat, be absolutely sure because by asking her to get involved you are both putting your careers at stake, perhaps more."

  "What do you want her to do?"

  "To set up some sort of recording of exactly what happens electronically on all aid funding movements and transactions, whether approved or not, between eight and nine o'clock on Monday morning."

  At midnight, Jan phoned both Jim and Jonathan with the plan.