I am Shamash Din Choudhry,British citizen and Principal assurance
manager for the HSBC in London. A
staff of Yokozona consultancy firm
got in touch with me regarding the estate of Philip Mutaf. And an
investment placed under our banks management 3 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 contact you independently of our
investigation and no one is informed of this
communication.I would like
to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest
to
you .In 1997, the subject matter; Philip Mutaf came to our bank to
engage in business discussions with
our private banking division. He
informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35 million
United
States 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, 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 10 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 1998, he asked that the money be
liquidated because he needed to make an
urgent investment requiring
cash payments in United Kindom. He directed that I liquidate the funds
and
had it deposited with United Assets Management Uk (in their
Securities Trading Firm).I
informed him that HSBC London 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 United Kindom and had
the funds
available in United Assets Management.
I undertook all the processes
and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and
had
the funds deposited at United Assets Management Uk United Kindom.
United Assets Management Uk is a
specialist bank 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. In Line with instructions, the money was deposited with United
Assets Management Uk (in
their Securities Trading Firm).Philip Mutaf
told me he wanted the money there as soon as he got into the
United
Kindom,This was the last communication we had, this transpired around
25th February 1999. In
Sept last year, we got a call from United Assets
Management Uk informing us about the inactivity of
that particular
portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned,
given the fact
that I managed the International private banking sector
I was the only one who knew about the deposit
at United Assets
Management Uk, and I could not understand why Philip Mutaf had not come
forward to
claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate Philip
Mutaf. Four days later, information started
to trickle in, apparently
Philip Mutaf was dead. A person who suited his description was declared
dead of AUTO ACCIDENT TRAUMA in Birmingham England. We were soon enough
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. 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;
Philip Mutaf died in 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. You have
unfortunately declared, and I know that you are in no way affiliated
with this individual. 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 thedeposit. According to
practice, United Assets
Management Uk will by the end of this quarter
broadcast a request for statements of claim to HSBC in
London, failing
to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit
back to HSBC in
London. This will result in the money entering the HSBC
in London 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 off 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. There is US$ 8,350,000.00 deposited in
United
Assets Management Uk, 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 United Assets
Management Uk is concerned, the transaction with Philip Mutaf concluded
when I sent the funds to
United Assets Management Uk, all outstanding
interactions in relation to the file are just customer
services and due
process. United Assets Management Uk has no single idea of 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 man?s family; they have investigated
for months and have found no
family. The investigation has come to an end.My proposal, I am prepared
to place you as the next of kin in a position to instruct United Assets
Management Uk 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 theproceeds
50/50.I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be
released to me, but
that would have drawn a straight line in 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 Philip Mutaf I will then officially communicate
with
United Assets Management Uk and instruct them to release the
deposit to you. With these:
all is done. 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. You may not know this but
people like myself
who have made tidy sums out of comparable situations
run the whole private banking sector. I am not a
criminal and what I
do, I do not find against good conscience, this may be hard for you to
understand, but the dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this
move. Such opportunities only come ones
way once in a lifetime. I
cannot let this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total
control
of my destiny. These chances wont pass me by. I ask that you do
not destroy my chance, if you will
not work with me let me know and let
me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am a
family man and
this is an opportunity to provide them with new opportunities. There is
a reward for
this project and it is a task well worth undertaking. I
have evaluated the risks and the only risk I
have here is from you
refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I am the only one who
knows of
this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a name that
has planted you into the center of
relevance in my life. Lets share the
blessing.
If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this
process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform
you that should you
contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about
this
project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my
official phone lines nor do I want you
contacting me through my
official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I will
provide for you
and also through this email address. I do not want any
direct link between you and me. My official
lines are not secure lines
as they are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care
in
line with our Total Quality Management Policy. Please observe this
instruction religiously. Please,
again, note I am a family man, I have
wife and children. I send you this mail not without a measure of
fear
as to what the consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured
is nothing gained and
that success and riches never come easy or on a
platter of gold. This is the one truth I
have learned from my private
banking clients.
Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one
accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.
I await your response.
Respectfully,
Shamash Din Choudhry
