The Hindu Business Line : Who says GTB is dead!

YOU think GTB is dead. That's what I too thought till there was this `very urgent' mail from Manager, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTB), Nwani Joe, Lagos, Nigeria. "I feel quite safe dealing with you in this business proposition having gone through your remarkable profile on the Internet," begins Joe's letter, on a flattering note. "Though, this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest, surest and most secured medium of communication." He knows the Net can be risky, just as I too fear.

"However, this correspondence is unofficial and private, and it should be treated as such," he cautions, and I'd therefore suggest you don't share your copy of this newspaper with anybody else. Joe guarantees that this deal is "hitch-free from all what you may think of." No, I haven't started thinking anything as yet, Joe.

From what he tells me I learn that one Mrs Erica Schwenk, a foreigner based in Nigeria, was one of Joe's customers. But she is dead now, as a result of "a fatal plane crash on October 3, 1999, with Egyptian airline." How bad, but Joe knows I could be sceptical, so he adds: "you can confirm through this Web site http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/02/ egyptair990.list/index.html." That's some innovation, though a click only shows page not found.

Yet, if you persist, and search in CNN for `Egypt air crash,' there are a few finds that you can pick up from. Joe's problem is that GTB's management and the legal department have recommended that the account of Erica should be "declared dormant, confiscated and the depositor's fund sent to the Bank Treasury, according to Nigeria Banking and Financial Law."

So, a tidy sum of $38.6 million, which Joe writes in words too for the sake of clarity, is in a numbered account, but none of Erica's relatives has staked claim to the amount.

"This is where I am interested, and this is where I want you to come in," writes Joe. "I want you to come in as the relation of the deceased," he continues, and I wonder what name it would be.

"I will give you the contact of the attorney, you will have to write to him telling him you are a relation to the deceased," Joe advises, and I can already hear a mystery tune ringing in my ears! "He is going to be happy to assist you," assures Joe, and I guess he would have fixed the attorney too. "I will be the one to provide the vital documents for the claims of the money and then advise you how we should handle it." Oh, man, he's going to handhold me right up to the millions!

To make Joe's work easier, I have only to include my telephone, fax number, home address when replying, and he would give me more information as soon as I indicate my "willingness to assist in this transaction."

He declares: "We will use our positions to get all internal documentations to back up the claims." I learn that the whole procedure will last only seven working days "to get the fund retrieved successfully without trace even in the future." Something that sounds as eerie as an unmarked grave or a perfect murder.

"After successful conclusion of this transaction, we shall share the money 60-40," concludes Joe, `yours truly.' Wow, it would work out to $15 million!

Yet, I want to tell Joe that after having seen T in our GTB evaporate, I'm in no mood for another GTB so soon.

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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