Girl Last Seen: An addictive and thrilling crime mystery (Detective Bex Wynter Files Book 7) by Elleby Harper

Author:Elleby Harper [Harper, Elleby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-18T22:00:00+00:00

24

“We’ve just got intel that a big consignment of drugs is being purchased with blood diamonds from Africa.” Lloyd Fausch had closed the door firmly behind him to face Cole and Zia in their office. With a frown, he pushed his glasses onto his forehead. “We’re talking a multi-million dollar haul.”

“You think one of Shubin’s Russian shell companies is involved?” Cole asked.

“It’s a strong possibility. This amount of cash is going to need a secure method of payment. The shell companies make that possible. Why else set them up except to enable large transactions?”

“If that’s the case Shubin must have bought himself a financial intermediary. Someone with the skills, knowledge and competence to plan the appropriate documentation that will enable the fake companies to pass large sums of money through the financial sector,” Zia said.

“The new Criminal Finances Act gives us more power to investigate financial transactions,” Fausch said. “If we can nail this to Shubin we might be able to enact an Unexplained Wealth Order so we can recover the money if we prove it’s criminal assets. That would effectively stop the drug transaction occurring.”

“Zia and I have been digging into the three companies Interpol identified. Flux Commercial Finance, Venture Wealth Group and Skyline Equity Holdings. Shubin is listed as CEO of two of the companies. Venture Wealth Group is headed by a Kazimir Krovopuskov, who we believe is an associate of Shubin’s. Using Zia’s IT finesse, we’ve also managed to untangle enough of their business incorporation documentation to nut out that a majority of all three companies’ banking transactions are conducted through Crown America,” Cole explained.

“Crown America? I’m not familiar with it,” Fausch said.

“It’s a foreign bank entry. Crown America is a multinational bank with its parent company in the US. You’d probably call it a boutique bank. It’s not in the same league as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup or Bank of America, but it has integrated extremely well into its London clientele. It makes use of London for its cross-border lending and foreign-exchange trading. I’d say that makes it ideal for the sort of money laundering you’re talking about,” Cole continued.

“Then we need to contact Crown America and ensure they keep NCA in the loop with their SARs,” Fausch ordered. Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, were a critical intelligence resource used by NCA to gather and analyse financial information.

“I’ll contact Weston Bechtel, head of Crown America in London, personally and make sure we get those SARs,” Cole said. “When is the transaction happening?”

“We don’t have a firm date,” Fausch admitted. “All I can confirm is that the intel suggests it will be sooner rather than later. Interpol has alerted the US authorities, who are on stand-by anticipating the drug import. I’ve been contacted by the FBI Agency here in London. I’m afraid they want more direct input into the case than relying on our reports.”

“FBI?” queried Zia. “I thought CIA handled international cases?”

“Feel free to bring that issue up with the agents they’ve assigned to this case,” Fausch said drily.

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