“And the beneficial owner of these companies?” asked Gabriel.
“Impossible to say. They’re Bahamian-registered and as opaque as can be.”
“And where, pray tell, do they do their banking?”
“The Cayman Islands, Mr. Allon. Where else?”
He considered this. “It could be exactly what it appears to be.”
“A wealthy individual who hides money offshore displaying a sudden streak of generosity?”
“Something like that,” he answered without conviction.
“I picked up one or two other tidbits as well.”
“Such as?”
“Until recently all three companies were empty vessels. Bone-dry, in fact. But interestingly enough, they received a large infusion of capital just seventy-two hours after Edward Knight approved the payment of the ransom money.”
“How large?”
“Four hundred and seventy-five million dollars, give or take. But one of the companies, Trident Resources, if I’m not mistaken, immediately transferred twenty-five million dollars to a company called RPH Investments. By the way, RPH does its banking in beautiful Belize.”
Gabriel reflected upon this as well while watching the last of the sun slip below the horizon. “The question is,” he said at length, “is that money the ransom payment that Edward Knight transferred to the bank in Cyprus?”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that. But I have a feeling I know someone who can.”
“Who?”
Ingrid smiled and said, “RPH.”
She was most intrigued, she continued, not by the size of the payment but by the company’s initials—the second and third initials, to be precise, thePandH. They were, she pointed out, the same initials as Peter Hoffmann, chief of wealth management at Bank Josef Bänzinger & Co. in Zurich.
“What about theR?” inquired Gabriel.
“I asked myself the same question.”
“And?”
“His curriculum vitae on the bank’s website refers to him as Peter, and he was known as Peter during his time at Cambridge. But it turns out that Peter is hissecondgiven name.”
“And his first?”
“Reinhardt.”
“How did you determine that?”
“Rather easily, actually. You see, Peter Hoffmann was known as Reinhardt Hoffmann until he headed off to Cambridge. That’s when he started calling himself Peter, probably because it sounded a bit less, well, Swiss.”
“You’re sure?”
“I can show you his official transcripts, if you like. He was quite a student,” she added. “One wonders how he ended up at a bank like Josef Bänzinger. Do you remember that Wikileaks dump of confidential emails? They revealed that Bänzinger was laundering money through its affiliate in the Cayman Islands. And then there was that exposé inThe New Yorkerabout Bänzinger stealing money from its clients. The CEO swore it wasn’t true a few days before hanging himself from the doorknob in his private bathroom.”
“That said, you have no proof that RPH Investments is linked to Reinhardt Peter Hoffmann.”
“I also have no proof the sun will rise tomorrow, but based on the available facts, I can reasonably deduce that it will.”
“Perhaps we should review them.” Gabriel indicated Peel, then said, “For the benefit of the detective inspector.”
