Whistleblower

by Terry Morgan

CHAPTER 43

  "Jan, I'm worried about something. I really didn't know who else to call. Can we meet? Now?" It was Katrine.

  Jan had just returned from his routine evening jog when there was a call on his mobile phone - the one he used for what little social life he had and for his mother's regular calls. Within the hour they were sat in the same corner seat of the same Tapas bar as before. Jan put two glasses of white wine on the table and sat down. "Sorry I've not phoned you, Kat, but I've been busy. What's bothering you?"

  Katrine took a sip of the wine but didn't smile. "There's something going on, Jan. Something to do with the Humanitarian Aid and Economic Development funding that we all sit around discussing nearly every day. Do you know that millions are going astray?"

  "Well known, isn't it?" said Jan, smiling. "Once the money is handed over there has to be a certain amount of trust that recipients use it for what it's intended. But we all know a lot doesn't. It just goes. Somewhere, somehow. They keep saying they'll tighten up the accountability......."

  Katrine nodded. "Yes, but........."

  "What's up Kat? Why ask me to join you tonight?"

  "I've got a friend in Treasury," she said. "I'd better not name her. But she thinks someone is hacking the finance system. Everything stopped working - it crashed - and someone was called to look at it, but by the time they arrived, everything was normal. It has happened several times in the last few weeks. The IT people have checked, but they say they can't find a problem. It's like it crashes due to an overload of people going online. But that's impossible and there are only a few security checked staff with permissions to access certain data."

  Jan, feeling the heat building, sniffed.

  "And my friend in Treasury," Katrine continued. "She thinks something happens during the short time the system goes down."

  "Like what?" Jan loosened his collar.

  "That money goes out - big amounts - but then it comes back in again. But on one occasion last week, she actually watched something happen. It lasted just a few seconds. 900,000 Euros suddenly went out of an Aid to Bangladesh fund. The point is, it wasn't due to go out. It was already ring-fenced but there were still some remaining issues with the bid. The system seemed to crash for no more than a few seconds before coming back on again. Then the 900,000 Euros came back in but she is convinced something happened during those few seconds."

  "Did she report it?"

  "Yes, to senior management. But she is already very senior, Jan."

  "And what did they do?"

  "Nothing - she's been told there was a glitch and it's sorted But it happened again today. This morning. Another 480,000 Euros, one minute gone, next minute replaced. But, again, it went before the final approvals and checks are complete, sometimes at the meetings that you and I attend. It went - somewhere - but then came back almost instantly. It doesn't make sense. If I was in charge I'd want to know more - a complete investigation, top to bottom. But no-one seems bothered. It's as if there's a cover up."

  "Does Kirk Eischmann know?" Jan asked, deliberately bringing him into the equation.

  "Yes, I mentioned it after yesterday's Environmental Policy meeting."

  "And?"

  "He didn't seem concerned. He just said there must have been a computer error somewhere."

  "So, not interested?"

  "Like others, he shrugged it off as if it was nothing. He just didn't want to talk about it. He told me it was not my department anyway and so I should not get involved. But surely we are allowed to express concerns."

  "You say the money goes out and then comes back in within seconds?"

  "Yes, but you know what it's like Jan. We work for a huge organisation that deals in billions. We take it in and we hand it out. Half a million here and half a million there is nothing. If the sums don't add up at the end of the year, they'll just write it off as they always do. There are bound to be a few anomalies, they say. But if there were anomalies then, according to my logic, some years you'd end up with more than you started with rather than less."

  "My logic would say exactly the same," said Jan, "But it's electronic money, Kat. They move these sums around and only at a certain point might it become hard cash. At other times, well.....accounts on that scale are complicated, Kat. I understand a bit about how the financial markets operate but I really don't profess to know much about the system here." Then, in nervous desperation, he added. "I wish I did."

  He thought for a moment about what Guido had said. Explaining Puff he said:

  "Your job, Mr Kerkman, is to make friends with Puff. We can turn Puff on and we can turn Puff off - on and off - just as we wish." And then: "We have another new system called 'Slush'. Slush replaces what has been taken out to make it appear nothing has happened. It is not your job to understand the workings of 'Slush'. Neither will I explain how the accounts finally get cooked to avoid having to explain mysterious losses and discrepancies which amount to millions of Dollars or Euros."

  "Maybe," Jan said aloud to Katrine, "What goes out is turned straight into hard cash, but what goes back in is electronic money just to balance books. Electronic money is a digital equivalent of cash, stored on an electronic device or remotely at a server. One common type of e-money is the 'electronic purse', where users store relatively small amounts of money on their payment card or other smart card, to use for making small payments. I've often thought it was open to all types of fraud if you can hack servers. And if we're saying this looks to you and me like some sort of crime then I suppose it could easily be laundered money, proceeds of crime. The amount of money laundered each year runs to billions of dollars."

  Jan was unsure if what he'd just said made much sense. The fact was he didn't understand how Puff and Slush worked, but it didn't matter. Katrine looked at him.

  "I hadn't thought of it like that," she said. "If it's true then it's scandalous. It needs exposing. We could be watching massive fraud in action - fraud using technology."

  "Yes, and the fact that you get nowhere when you and your friend in Treasury ask questions and when you ask Eischmann might prove the point - a massive cover up."

  "You mean it's not just one or two people involved but many?"

  "Remember, you've had suspicions about Dirk Eishmann for a long time - how he keeps his job, how he networks, how he rubs shoulders. Maybe the ones he rubs shoulders with are fraudsters and Eischmann is pure and innocent."

  "I can't see Eischmann being that naive can you?"

  "No," Jan said and shook his head.

  Katrine stared at him. "So what do we do?"

  "Find the evidence and expose it. But without firm evidence it'll go nowhere. If we're right then we need to go public. Whistle blow as it's called. But that's very, very risky."

  They talked on for a while until Jan said, "Let's meet again, Kat. Decide what to do. If you are as sure as I am that there is something fraudulent going on, it's not just a matter of going carefully but deciding what to do about it. But don't do what you were once tempted to do - move on and find another job. That's defeatism. Stay inside, at least for the time being. Keep an eye on things." Then he added, "I'm off to London on Saturday - a weekend break to see some friends - let's chat next week."

  Jan's weekend break in London was with Jim.