Whistleblower
Page 70
CHAPTER 69
Katrine was presenting the third bid of the afternoon to the EAWA steering group. Dirk Eischmann was on her right, Jan across the table.
"We now come to the resubmission of the Sierra Leone Tourism bid which you will recall was returned for further information," she said. "As you will see from sheet one, the changes and further information we requested have been received."
She paused during some paper shuffling and caught the eye of Jan. Eischmann was apparently engrossed in reading the changes.
"First," Katrine said, "Sulima Construction yesterday advised us of a change of consultant. The new company is Freeways Consultants in Zurich. We are all very familiar with Freeway. They have been consultants for several economic development projects over the last few years, but their details are attached if we need to refer to them."
Oh yes, Jan remembered Freeways. The name cropped up regularly - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Somalia. But no-one had ever questioned them, least of all Eischmann. It was just paperwork. If the paperwork looked OK, then Freeway must be OK. Even Katrine appeared confident with them. Freeways were Swiss, so that made them automatically legitimate, viable, heavily resourced, experienced and with an enviable track record of delivery. But had anyone ever visited them, checked them out, delved into their resources and capability? Probably not. Everyone assumed someone else had.
And even if anyone had gone to Zurich to check, then they could probably expect a warm welcome at Zurich airport by someone in a suit before being whisked off to a plush office rented for a few days with a few Freeways logos and pictures stuck around. With their resources, anything could be made ready and waiting in the event of excuses being needed. Jan could imagine the dialogue now. "This is just the economic development consultancy office - our other offices are in Luxemburg, London, Frankfurt and Madrid". There would be a lot of bullshit, a long lunch with wine and a small or large gift would be offered if the visitors were suitable candidates. No wonder there were so many members in Guido's club. And if Guido was behind Freeways then so was Eischmann.
Jan watched Eischmann. There was not a flicker.
"We also asked for more information about Cherry Pick Investments," Katrine went on. "Fresh information from Freeways Consultants confirms that Cherry Pick Investments are in the process of being bought out by an unnamed company......."
It was then that Eischmann jumped in. "That is exactly why I suspected something was wrong here. Go on Katrine."
"So," Katrine continued, "Freeways advice is that the bid be put on hold until the takeover is complete and the situation clarified. This should not take long and then they will resubmit the bid."
That was it - stamped on, permanently, or at least until Guido and Eischmann had decided on a solution that suited them.
The meeting ended, Jan went outside into the street and phoned Jonathan with the news.
"No need for us to engineer something to prove our suspicions, then, " Jonathan said. "I'm just wondering how to break the news to Jacob Johnson."
"I'll leave that decision with you, Jon. But I've had another idea. Listen."