Page 94 of Behind Frenemy Lines

CG: “Hello, Ba. Can you talk?”

Ba: “What do you want to talk about?” Sounded apprehensive.

Probably thought I was about to tell him I wasn’t going to come up with the outstanding£25,000, so he’d have to pay off his debts himself. In other words, he might have to face a single consequence of his behaviour, for once in his life.

Unfair of me. Ba faced consequences before, e.g., when he went to jail.

This was why I avoided talking to him. Didn’t like who I was when I had to interact with Ba.

CG: “Have you spoken to Boey Kah Seng recently? Shaw Boey’s dad.”

Ba, perking up: “Ah, you heard? Not Boey Kah Seng, but the son contacted me. Polite boy. He’s a big deal now, but he still knows how to respect his father’s old friend. You know, whether you agree or not, this Shaw Boey knows how to get ahead. Most people only wish. They don’t do. This boy, he does things.”

CG: “When you say he ‘does things,’ you mean the allegations that he’s embezzled billions from a sovereign wealth fund?”

Ba: “Most people, it’s not that they don’t want to do like him. They just don’t have the guts.”

I disagreed, but didn’t want to be arguing about this. Had a bigger fight to pick.

Until my bizarre conversation with Shaw, I’d accepted that it fundamentally wasn’t my job to decide whether or not Helen Daley’sGuardianarticle was accurate. That was for a court to determine, based on the evidence adduced by each side.

But in light of the past hour or so, I was compelled to conclude that what Ms. Daley had reported was basically true. Clearly there was sufficient proof of the allegations out there as to cause Shaw concern.

It would have been more effective if he’d offered to bribe Farah and the entire risk management committee. But perhaps he viewed the£200 million Blackmount deal we were advising on in that light. Robert Anderson certainly wouldn’t be happy to alienate the man who’d given him that instruction.

That was a fight for Farah to have. In the meantime, I had to sort myself out.

CG: “Did Shaw offer you a job?”

Ba: “Yes, at Boey Kah Seng’s company. Haven’t confirmed the package yet. Once they confirmed, I was going to tell the family.” Sighed. “Back then, Boey Kah Seng and I were equals. I was better off, my salary was good. His father only gave him a small allowance. I used to pay when we went out for dinner. Now I’m supposed to call him ‘boss.’ Well, we don’t all have the same luck, in this world.”

CG: “If they come back to you, you’ve got to tell them you can’t accept the job, Ba. They were only offering it to you as a bribe. My firm’s acting for Shaw Boey’s company and there are some irregularities he wants us to ignore. That’s the reason he approached you.”

Ba: “Who told you that?” Before I could answer, he went on: “Just because I’ve had some bad luck, you think nobody wants me to work with them? You don’t know, your father has a lot of experience in business. People used to fight to get a meeting with me.”

CG: “Well, what’s the job description? What are your duties going to be?”

Ba: “That’s not confirmed yet. We will discuss all that.”

CG: “Ba, it’s not normal to be approached for a job where you haven’t even been told what you’re going to do. They’ve promised you a lot of money, I assume. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”

Ba: “You don’t know how things work here. In Asia, it’s about who you know, not just what you know. Boey Kah Seng is my old friend from back then, so he knows I can add value to his company. But my own son doesn’t think anyone would want to give me a job!”

CG: “That’s not what I’m saying.”

Did not, in fact, think that a man in his sixties with a fraud conviction, who hadn’t been in regular employment for years, would be viewed as a catch by most employers. But I wasn’tabout to say so. May have problems with my bedside manner, but I’m notthattactless.

I said: “The problem is with this particular job offer. Shaw Boey made it because he wants a hold on me, and by extension, the firm. He wants to make it so, if I become aware of information to his disadvantage, I won’t feel able to act on it as I should.”

Ba: “So what?”

CG: “What?”

Ba: “You young people, you only think about yourself. You’re lucky. You don’t know what it’s like to have people chase you for money while you have children to feed.”

Could have pointed out I had an intimate knowledge of what it was like to be chased for money, thanks to him. But I could hear Ma’s voice in my head: “Your father is getting older. Old people are very sensitive. If you scold him, you may feel good, but then what will happen? He will get angry, maybe he will stop talking to you. He has other children, but you only have one father.”

It wasn’t her argument I found persuasive, so much as the subtext:You’re strong. He’s weak.

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