A personal letter from Nigeria

David Knott
London
[email protected]

To my astonishment, Nigeria has been rated the world's most corrupt country, by pressure group Transparency International, Berlin.

I may now have to be more cautious in pursuing my retirement plans.

Until recently, I have received a steady stream of unmissable deals, which require me only to provide my bank details in order to earn a cut in a hoard of many millions of dollars (OGJ, Mar. 6, 1995, p. 37).

Then the stream dried up, and I began to fear that the architects of the world's most enticing propositions were losing their inspiration. But last week a new offer came, on Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. notepaper.

This latest missive, signed by a Dr. Akpobo Meno, shows that during the quiet period, Nigeria's entrepreneurs have decided-maybe because I have so far been hesitant-that they need more realism in their offers.

So instead of the usual brief details of some undoubtedly senior government or state oil company official who has worked out how to beat the system, the latest letter gets more personal. Here is an extract:

Full details

"On Feb. 10, 1995, the tender committee awarded a contract of $600 million to the consortium of ABB Lummus, JGC Corp. of Japan, Bouygues Offshore, and a joint venture of Spietbagnoles and Fougerolle, for an engineering, procurement, and construction project in Nigeria.

"But my colleagues and I decided to over-inflate the contract sum to $665 million with the intention of sharing the remaining $65 million among ourselves.

"We intend to transfer $32 million abroad to any safe and reliable account to be disbursed among ourselves. If your company acts as the beneficiary of this fund, you will retain 30% of the total."

This was the first time I have seen such a letter refer to a project, including company names to make it even more convincing. Yet the bid for persuasiveness goes further, with a tale of misplaced trust.

Tale of woe

"Two years ago a similar transaction was carried out with one Mr. Patrice Miller, president of Craine International Trading Corp. at number 135, East 57th Street, 28th Floor, New York 10222, telephone number (212) 308-7788, and telex number 6731689.

"With all the required documents signed, the money was duly transferred into his account. On our arrival in New York, we were reliably informed that Mr. Patrice Miller was no longer at that address, while his telephone and telex numbers have been reallocated to somebody else. That was how we lost $27.5 million to Mr. Patrice Miller."

Undeterred by the despicable behavior of Mr. Patrice Miller, Dr. Meno explains that this time around he needs "...a more reliable and trustworthy person or a reputable company's account to transfer this money into.

"Hence this letter to you. Please be informed that the personalities involved in this transaction are top and influential government functionaries who would not like any form of exposure and as such would want you to keep this business a top secret and confidential."

Dr. Meno, I will not reveal a word of your letter to anyone. And my full bank details will be in the post, once I've confirmed how you will get the money back from that unreliable Mr. Patrice Miller and into my account.