I WISH TO SEEK FOR YOUR CONSENT
I am Tony Kashe, staff of International Private Banking at
our Bank. I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer
and an investment he placed under our banks management three
years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the
contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity
of the information you come by as a result of this mail.
I contacted you independently of our investigation and noone
is informed of this communication. I would like to
intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of
interest to you. In 2000, the subject matter; came to our
bank to engage in business discussions with our private
banking division. He informed us that he had a financial
portfolio of Thirty two million seven hundred thousand
united state dollars, which he wished to have us turn over
(invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his
case; I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as
the de-facto chief operations officer of the private banking
sector, especially given the volume of funds he wished to
put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any
investments being placed. I encouraged him to consider
various growth funds with prime ratings. The favored route
in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on
6000 traditional stocks and bond managers and 2000 managers
of alternative investments. Based on my advice, we spun the
money around various opportunities and made attractive
margins for our first months of operation,the accrued profit
and interest stood at this point at over ten million United
States Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of
the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on
investments. In mid 2002, he asked that the money be
liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment
requiring cash payments in here in the United Kingdom. He
directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with a
security firm in here London.
I informed him that the bank would have to make special
arrangements to have this done and in order not to
circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 %
deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory
charges. He complained about the charges but later came
around when I explained to him the complexities of the task
he was asking of us. Cash movement across boarders has
become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I
contacted my affiliate in here in London and made the funds
available to the security firm. I undertook all the
processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions
to the letter and had the funds deposited at the London
based security consultancy firm, Corporate Securities Co.
Corporate Securities Co is a specialist private firm that
accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue
chip corporations that handle valuable products or undertake
transactions that need immediate access to cash.This small
and highly private organization is familiar especially to
the highly placed and well-connected organizations. In line
with instructions, the money was deposited with Corporate
Securities Co. The deceased told me he wanted the money
there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that
week. This was the last communication we had, this
transpired around 25th February 2003.
In June last year, we got a call from Corporate Securities
Co informing us that the activity of that particular
portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was
concerned, given the fact that I managed the private banking
sector I was the only one who knew about the deposit at
Corporate Securities Co, and I could not understand why the
deceased had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made
futile efforts to locate the deceased in his country, he was
a Russian business man, A former deputy chief executive if I
recall correctly and part of the so-called oligarchy. I
immediately passed the task of locating him to the
ternalinvestigations department of the bank. Four days
later,information started to trickle in, apparently our
client was dead. A person who suited his description was
declared dead of a heart attack in Cannes,South of France.
We were soon able to identify the body and cause of death
was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an
investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert
about the situation and also to come forward to claim his
estate. If you are familiar with private banking
affairs,those who patronize our services usually prefer
anonymity,but also some levels of detachment from
conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no
next of kin.In the field of private banking, opening an
account with us means no one will know of its
existence,accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors
use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This
bank also gives the choice to depositors of having their
mail sent to them or held at the bank itself, ensuring that
there are no traces of the account and as I said, rarely do
they nominate next of kin. Private banking clients apart
from not nominating next of kin also usually in most cases
leave wills in our care, in this case; the deceased died
without a testate.
In line with our internal processes for account holders who
have passed away, we instituted our own investigations in
good faith to determine who should have right to claim the
estate. This investigation has for the past months been
unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our
private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root
of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my
being furnished with your details as a possible relative of
the deceased. My official capacity dictates that I am the
only party to supervise the investigation and the only party
to receive the results of the investigation.What this means,
you being the last batch of names we have considered, is
that our dear late fellow died with no known or identifiable
family member. This leaves me as the only person with the
full picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation
to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the deposit.
According to practice, Corporate Securities Co will by the
end of this financial year broadcast a request for
statements of claim to our bank, failing to receive viable
claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to
the bank. This will result in the money entering the bank
accounting system and the portfolio will be out of my hands
and out of the private banking division. This will not
happen if I have my way. What I wish to relate to you will
smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand
something. It is only an outsider to the banking world who
finds the internal politics of the banking world
aberrational. The world of private banking especially is
fraught with huge rewards for those who occupy certain
offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have
begun by now to put together the general direction of what I
propose. I alone have the deposit details and they will
release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do
so.
I alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as
the bank is concerned, the transaction with our late
customer concluded when I sent the funds to corporate
securities, all outstanding interactions in relation to the
file are just customer services and due process. Corporate
Securities Co, has no single idea of what the history or
nature of the deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions
to release the deposit to any party that comes forward. This
is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money
trying to track this mans family; they have investigated for
months and have found no family. The investigation has come
to an end. My proposal; you share similar details to the
late fellow; I am prepared to place you in a position to
instruct Corporate Securities Co to release the deposit to
you as the closest surviving relation.
Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the
money with you in half. That is: I will simply nominate you
as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to
you.We share the proceeds 50/50. I would have gone ahead to
ask the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a
straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the
deposit. I assure you that I could have the deposit released
to you within a few days. I will simply inform the bank of
the final closing of the file relating to the deceased I
will then officially communicate with Corporate Securities
Co and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With
these two
things: all is done. The alternative would be for us to have
Corporate Securities Co direct the funds to another bank
with you as account holder. This way there will be no need
for you to think of receiving the
money from Corporate Securities Co. We can fine-tune this
based on our interactions. I am aware of the consequences of
this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this
project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do
not be vindictive and destructive.
If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and
forget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my career
because you do not approve of my proposal.
I await your response
Thanks for your co-orperations.
Best regards,
TONY KASHE
