by Terry Morgan
CHAPTER 81
In Zurich, Tom and Jan were at breakfast in the hotel.
As Tom filled a glass with orange juice and brought it back to their table, his mobile phone rang. It was Jim, first checking that Jan had now joined him and then with an update on his meeting with Scott Evora. But it was his next piece of information which caused Tom to look at Jan, nod his head and point to the phone he was holding. "A possible lead from Jonathan on Guido," he whispered across the table. Jim was still talking.
"It's come on a tortuous route from Sierra Leone," Jim was saying. "According to Cole Harding, the two Lebanese who ran Cherry Picking met Guido in Milan. He met them off a plane from Amsterdam some months ago, picked them up in a black Mercedes, whisked them off to a restaurant in the centre of Milan and then dropped them at the Park Hyatt Hotel. Apparently Guido seemed well known at both the restaurant and the hotel. It's only a thought, Tom, but maybe you should both head on down to Milan once you've done all you can in Zurich."
Tom and Jan agreed but, for now, their plan was to look at Zurich companies using the name Freeway. Over fresh coffee, they sat with Jan's laptop. On the screen was a long, long list of companies with that name.
"Cut and pasted from publicly accessible sites," Jan said.
Jim looked. The list went on for pages and pages - innocuous sounding companies like Freeway Car Washing (Panama), Freeway Electronics SA (Spain), Freeway Pharmaceuticals PLC, Freeway Management Ltd. Then there were others: Market Freeway (Gibraltar), Express Freeway and, the longest name of all, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean Freeway Finance SA (Mexico).
"Daunting, huh?" Jan said. "But I've already put in hours of work on it on this laptop which, by the way, I don't keep at home but in a locker at the gym I use."
Jim looked at Jan and shook his head. "Unbelievable."
"I'm just being careful," Jan answered, still scrolling down. "It's a long list but we can dismiss over ninety nine percent. I've marked the one percent in red. See? There's one interesting Freeway - the one Jim uncovered when looking at the video of my crime." Jan tried to laugh.
"The Puff and Slush money movement?" Tom asked.
"Correct. Using Puff and Slush I moved 150,000 Euros to a beneficiary called Acosta Freeway Investment Holdings. See it? There. Now, if we click on the internet link we can find more on Acosta. There. It's based in Panama and that figures because we've also got evidence that the money I moved went to Banco de Credito de Milano in Panama and Jim has already asked Scott Evora if the FBI could check this out as well as a bank in Dubai. We're gathering evidence, Tom. We're doing OK."
He paused and scrolled down further as Tom watched.
"But what I'm particularly interested in is this batch here - six companies calling themselves Freeway Consultants or variations on that name. And why? Because I am, once again, feeling guilty about using Guido's system - this time to replace Walton Associates with Freeway Consultants as the consultants on Jonathan's Sierra Leone bid."
"And Freeway Consultants are based in Zurich?" Tom asked, checking his understanding.
"Yes, or so the paperwork said. And, if my suspicions are correct, both Dirk Eischmann and Guido have links with Freeway Consultants Zurich. But no-one has ever checked them out. I asked Katrine about it. You know what she said? Freeways were Swiss and they were 'prequalified'.
"That seemed to be enough as a measure of their legitimacy and ability to deliver. How they got prequalification status in the first place is unknown, but it automatically short cuts their approval rating and grants them legitimacy on the basis that they're seen as having performed OK in the past. The fact is the original paperwork was probably forged, but no-one - at least no-one with clean hands and a critical eye - has ever bothered to go to Zurich to check. But the name Freeway is well known to me and Katrine and others in the organisation. Freeway Consultants often crop up in bids in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Somalia and elsewhere. I know because I checked. So let's make them our first target."
Tom interrupted. "But doesn't someone representing Freeway Consultants show his or her face from time to time? Surely a name is known to someone, somewhere. A figurehead to give it that continued legitimacy."
"I asked Katrine the same question. And yes, there is a sort of vetting team that grants prequalification certificates. When I mentioned this to Jim and offered some names, he recognised one. Did Jim ever tell you about meeting a Dutchman offering to guarantee successful bids from Jim's company in return for a commission?"
"Yes, and he also mentioned the tape recording. He was expecting to meet a guy called Philippe but another guy turned up."
"Yes. Philippe Eijsackers was the guy who we think failed to turn up. Instead, he sent a sidekick - perhaps so he himself could stay in the background and claim innocence if anything went wrong. At that time, Eijsackers was the head of the vetting team. He's now moved onwards and upwards into Environmental Policy, but Jim thinks he's still involved with Eischmann."
"So where do we start with Freeway Consultants?"
"With this one," Jan said, pointing at a company he'd highlighted in green."
"Why that one?"
"I dug out past correspondence and bid submissions. They all show the company registered in Luxemburg but with an address in Zurich. If we draw a blank with them, there are three others we can try with Zurich or Geneva connections."
"OK. So what about the other Freeway name we picked up - Freeways Freight Forwarding?"
"There we have a problem," Jan replied. "I found three possibilities - Freeway Freight Forwarding, Freeways Freight Forwarders and Freeway Shipping but there is nothing to connect them with Zurich or Milan."
"Mmm," Tom mumbled and sat back. "A pity........but where did we get the name Freeways Freight Forwarding from?"
"Sierra Leone......from Jonathan via Cole Harding again.....it was just a name."
"Then let's see if Cole Harding can find out some more. I'll phone Jonathan to ask him. Meanwhile let's go in search of Freeway Consultants."
"Seeing a name plate on an office block in a side street will mean nothing, Tom."
"Yes, I know. So we need a devilish plan and I thought of one on the plane down here. Do you have a copy of one of the letters from Freeway Consultants?"
"Yes."
"Who signed it?"
"It's an electronic signature and says Richard Muller - it means nothing. I checked."
"Then there's no harm in trying a bit of Irish skulduggery, subterfuge and jiggery-pokery?"
"What the hell's that?"
"It's how I could and should have been the biggest and shittiest investigative reporter in London. I'll be Richard Muller and you can be the finance director."