MEMOIR FROM AN OLD FRIEND

We met again after many years, it was a chance encounter which arose when I was sent by my company to London for a meeting with our branch in Germany. I never liked the fellow, at school, he was a braggart and a bully. His father managed the local bank and was prominent in politics and commerce. I came from a family with socialist views which did not help.

The war came and conscription. I duly presented myself and underwent the training and conditioning suitable for killing. The bully of my school days neatly avoided the process by displaying his flat feet, a condition called Hallux Rigidity, which made marching and drilling impaired. This was not noticeable apart from a peculiar type of gait and did not prevent him from being good at sports. I found later that some of the men in my regiment had it, but were unaware of this loophole and would probably not have made use of it anyway.

Now, years later he presented himself as an amiable and likable personality.

We chatted on local events after reminiscing, glossing over the pubertal differences.

It came to pass that he was well placed in the firm and offered me a position for which

I had been angling, and so regardless of my ancient dislike, I did not hesitate to accept. Strangely enough, it became impossible to dislike him, although the feeling still rankled in my recollections of childish resentment.

In the next few months in Berlin, my accountancy skills revealed a hidden discrepancy involving sums of money, which I had unknowingly allowed the computer to permit. This money comprised of minuscule fractions of the vast amount of capital passing unnoticeable to the untutored eye through international banking, and ending up in accounts on various islands which served this purpose well.

When I casually mentioned this during one of our occasional briefings and dinners, without expressing alarm but in interest and mild concern. He smiled and reassured me.

"My dear chap there is nothing to worry about. Didn't you notice that one of the Cayman accounts is in your name?

I took a gulp of the brandy and said,

"Isn't there something shady going on, we must be breaking the law".

"Oh, not at all" he replied," it is normal business practice. Let me explain.”

I was shown the ways of modern business and banking. The super boffins of computerizing who at the top of the chain merely divert small fractions from the vast amount of capital passing through in the expenditure of accounting, gradually accruing in significant amounts. In this way it is not only undetectable, is acceptable impossible to police. Now, I was implicit in this with a nice retirement package.

"But, what if someone reported it?" I said. He gave me a penetrating look and said "There is only one other person who knows the secrets of our computer, and if he was threatened he could leave a state of chaos which would ruin the company and all evidence lost, that is if anyone tried to sort it out".

I said,'’ How many are aware of this going on’’?

He grinned and said, "Two now".

So I did what any sensible and pragmatic person would do, I carried on turning a blind eye, wondering what happened to the chap whose vacancy I filled, and who was said to have disappeared mysteriously.

I hope you will like this story and if you do like this then give it a heart and do share it with your family and friends.

Thank you very much

lame comedy,

17/04/2021.