Geoffrey Bindman QC recalls a dictatorship, Swiss bank accounts & a mystery caller
Recent revelations about Swiss banks reminded me of an unusual experience I had in the 1980s. I was the London solicitor for a small Latin American state, previously ruled by a notoriously brutal and avaricious dictator.
Secret accounts
The embassy in London received a call from a man who claimed access to a very large sum of money held for the dictator in a Zurich bank. The money could be handed over to the government in return for a suitable commission. My clients knew that large amounts of public money had been hidden by the dictator in secret accounts. They also knew that the tight security observed in the Swiss banking system made it highly improbable that this money could be recovered. I was asked to investigate. I arranged to meet the contact in the lobby of a large hotel near the embassy.
He was well-dressed, well-spoken with an accent I could not immediately identify and entirely plausible. He
