The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,42
to call them rather than them calling me. They are not quite as useless as I thought.”
“Momentai, Uncle.”
“And they found out some interesting things.”
Ava climbed down from the bed and sat at the desk. She opened her notebook and turned to a fresh page. “Go ahead.”
“Bank Linno is about forty years old. It was founded in East Java by a family that had a fleet of trawlers, with the idea of supporting the local fishing industry. They started in Surabaya and then slowly began to expand into places like Batu, Madiun, and Malang, all in East Java. In terms of branches and employees it barely breaks into the top hundred in Indonesia.”
“So what are they doing in Toronto and New York?” she interrupted.
“Be patient,” he said. “Taking three months off has made you edgy.”
“Sorry,” she said, drawing a deep breath.
“Despite being hardly a blip on the banking scene, Linno is among the top ten Indonesian banks when it comes to capitalization.”
“How much are we talking about?”
“Billions.”
“Uncle, how is that possible?”
“No one knows. Our contacts were as surprised as you. What they did find out was that about six years ago the bank’s ownership and management changed.”
“It isn’t Indonesian-owned?”
“On the surface it is. The founding family sold their shares to another Indonesian company in Surabaya, but when our people ran that down, they ended up with a law firm that is holding and voting the shares in trust. All legal, I am told.”
“And the management?”
“Stranger still. The CEO is a British man by the name of Andy Cameron. He joined the company at the same time the ownership was transferred.”
“Where was he before?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is all very strange,” Ava said, writing down Cameron’s name and then unconsciously underlining billions in her notebook. Whatever doubts she had about going to Indonesia were vanishing. If nothing else, her curiosity was in overdrive. “Uncle, if I go to Surabaya, what kind of help can I get from our people?”
He hesitated, and she wondered if he was preparing to tell her to forget it. Instead he said, “The people I know are in Jakarta. They have associates in Surabaya but they are not well organized — freelancers mainly. They would have to send someone from Jakarta to run things for you, and then of course there is the language gap, so you would need someone to translate anyway.”
“These people, are they official?” she asked, meaning police or army.
“No, they are mainly into rent collection, protection money. They kick back a portion to the police and so have some kind of affiliation, but I do not know how much you can count on that.”
“They don’t sound too promising.”
“The man from Jakarta is a different animal. He is a jago, a gang boss, and he is tough and smart. He can be there in a few hours if you want him.”
“What is his name?”
“Perkasa.”
“Can he speak English?”
“Yes, most educated Indonesians can.”
“He’s not Chinese?” she asked, surprised.
“He is, actually. His Chinese name is Chung.”
Ava knew it was common for Chinese people doing business in other parts of Asia, such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, to adopt local names. They were often some of the wealthiest people in those countries, and targets for kidnapping and worse. Ava thought it was naive of them to think a name change would offer any kind of protection, but then she wasn’t living there. “I think you should ask him to be on standby, to be ready to travel to Surabaya,” she said.
“Do you know the place?”
“No, and I hardly know Indonesia,” she said. She’d been there twice, both times to Jakarta and both times for only a few days. She had memories of traffic that rivalled the worst of Bangkok and Manila, and the sound of the early morning call to prayer from a mosque near her hotel that had her out of bed with the rising sun.
“It sounds as if you have made up your mind to go.”
“Yes, I think I have. That is, if you agree.”
He paused, and she wondered if he was thinking about saying no. “Ava, you just need to be careful. I agree this bank is worth looking into, but I do not want you to take any chances.”
“I won’t.”
“And I will make sure Perkasa is on twenty-four-hour standby.”
“Okay.”
“We have to pay these people. It is not like the usual exchange of favours. I am going to send him money right away so that he is ready to travel.”