City of Exiles by Alec Nevala-Lee

Author:Alec Nevala-Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2012-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

29

On the wall above the desk, there was a map of Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. It began with a fat line representing four hundred thousand soldiers marching out from the Neman River. As the line went east, it diminished, until only a hundred thousand men arrived at Moscow. Then, on its way back, it dwindled further, until finally, when it returned to its starting point, fewer than ten thousand remained.

It was a famously remorseless image, and Powell knew it well. Studying the version above the desk of Howard Archer, founder of the Cheshire Group, however, he noticed a small but telling difference. In front of all the numbers on the map, someone had drawn a dollar sign.

Archer looked wistfully at the map. He was a small, tidy man whose demeanor had grown even more subdued in the aftermath of Morley’s death. “The map tells most of the story. Until recently we were one of the largest foreign portfolio investors in Russia. The idea was to invest the fund in public companies, then conduct our own investigations to uncover inefficiency and corruption. If the government took steps to address these issues, the share price went up, benefiting everyone involved. That’s the theory behind activist investing, anyway.”

Powell saw an ironic gleam in the fund manager’s eyes. “And how did it work out?”

“Rather well, for a while. At first Putin was on our side. We were fighting the same thing, oligarchs who were buying up state companies and channeling funds into their own pockets. Then, five years ago, everything changed.”

“I’ve read something about this,” Powell said. “You were detained at the airport?”

Archer nodded. “I was flying back to Moscow, where I had been living for more than a decade, when I was told that I could no longer enter the country. I was held for a day, then sent back to London, under the pretense that I was a threat to state security. I’ve been banished ever since.”

“Along with Morley, I hear. And what was it that caused such a sudden change?”

“The short answer? Gaztek. The most powerful natural gas company in the world, and the largest company of any kind in Russia. Five years ago, it was put under state control, meaning that the government stood to benefit from the same internal corruption we had been trying to fight. Suddenly our presence in Russia became very inconvenient. In the end, our offices in Moscow were raided, and the men behind it secured a massive payoff from the Russian government.”

“So one part of the state was stealing from another,” Powell said, knowing that such transfers of wealth were not unusual. “And when your lawyers contested this, they were arrested?”

“Only one. The rest were smart enough to leave the country. The one who remained was thrown into prison, where he was beaten and denied medical attention. Six months later, he was dead.” Archer smiled grimly. “If you want to understand Morley, you need to begin there. He was furious about it. I was aware of this, but I hoped he would channel this rage into his work.

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