‘He’s in serious trouble. He has committed the gravest offence this country recognises —’

‘Wait, don’t tell me,’ said Kipsel raising his hand. ‘He’s broken financial regulations.’

Blanchaille nodded. ‘Yes, but it’s worse than that —’

‘It’s something to do with the missing millions, isn’t it? The money Ferreira was looking for, the discrepancies in the books? The money he sent here?’

Blanchaille had to smile at his friend’s naïvety. ‘Heavens, Ronnie, that’s no crime! Not here. It’s widely expected that the heads of various regimes should squirrel away large sums in Swiss accounts against a rainy day, the sudden coup that will pitch them into exile, or just for insurance. Hell, no, the Swiss don’t get offended about that. They consider it quite natural that foreign regimes should screw their people, empty the banks, siphon off the aid cheques into secret accounts in Geneva and Zurich. African regimes especially. And to them Bubé is just another African. No, what the Swiss have set their faces firmly against is anybody diddling the Swiss.’

Kipsel blew harshly between his teeth. ‘Wowee!’

‘Precisely,’ said Blanchaille, ‘though “Wowee!” hardly covers the complexities involved. It has to do with gold sales. We might have guessed that. You remember Himmelfarber telling us about the switch from the London gold market to Zurich in what he called the gilded days? Well Bubé was largely responsible for the move. And the Swiss bullion dealers were impressed. Some of his best friends were bullion dealers and they were very grateful to get our gold. Some of them were very grateful before they got our gold and showed their gratitude. As we say back home, they “thanked” the Minister.

‘But when gold sales returned to the London market the love went out of Bubé’s relationship with the dealers. It did no good to explain that it was the Swiss Government’s fault for imposing the sales tax, thereby forcing the dealers to show their volumes of sales and upsetting our other friends, the Russians. As far as the dealers were concerned, one moment they had all the gold and the next moment they didn’t. They insist Bubé gave them to believe that South African gold was here in Switzerland to stay. They feel aggrieved. And behind the dealers are the banks. Because of course they lent the money to the dealers. And as that pleasant young police officer from the Commercial Division of the Swiss police told me back there — in Switzerland when the banks speak the cantons tremble. The banks are very bitter. After all, they argue — who was it who arranged loans and credits to the Regime when no one else would touch them?’

‘Then the stories about the President are true?’ Kipsel asked. ‘He has money stashed away?’

‘Quite a lot. Perhaps as much as twenty million. Perhaps more. Bubé himself isn’t sure.’

‘That’s a fortune!’

‘That what I said. Bubé became pretty peevish. “You don’t plan for a government-in-exile on peanuts,” he said. “It’s not like arranging a skiing trip.” It’s this money that is the subject of the dispute. The bullion dealers claim that it was amassed using their contributions, their commissions, so they’re laying claim to it. Meanwhile the Regime, having got wind of it, is also after the money. They say it belongs to them having been improperly acquired. Bubé says he’s sick to death of this nonsense. He says that there have long been plans to establish a government-in-exile should the Regime fall. It was, as Himmelfarber told us, just one of the options. Various South American countries have been selected, as suitable where of course there are communities of the many descendants of those Boer exiles who originally fled to South America after the Boer War. Bubé referred to this money as a contingency fund. A hedge against the day when, like it or not, the Regime may have to transfer to Paraguay or Bolivia. What’s more he says that everybody in the inner ring of the Cabinet has known of this fund for years, approved of it, encouraged it. Yet when he arrived in Switzerland he found the Regime was denouncing him for fraud. They were demanding his extradition — with all the money. And the Swiss bullion dealers are demanding that what they call “earlier undertakings” must be honoured and the banks are talking menacingly of this insult to the soul of the nation; this cancer in the body of the Helvetian State — this is dangerous stuff because the banks are to Switzerland what I suppose the Roman Curia is to the Vatican, director and guardians of the faith… Bubé’s alleged crime is not only that he has injured Swiss banks, but by turning up in person on Swiss soil he has added insult to injury. Not only are they determined to get their money back, but they want to make an example of him. I expect he will be paraded in the market squares of all the towns between here and Geneva.’

Kipsel understood. ‘Hence the notice.’

‘Right.’

‘I’ve got little sympathy for him,’ Kipsel commented. ‘But I wonder how firm their evidence is when they can’t even spell his name.’

‘It’s very common in the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland to find names ending in “i” — Matti, Jutti and so on. That young policeman’s name was Mitti. They’ve spelt it the way they heard it — BUBI.’

‘How come you know so much about the Swiss arrangements, Blanchie?’

‘Well, I was incarcerated for some time with a wild Swiss priest back at home. His name was Wüli. There’s a case in point. Wüli had often been arrested in Switzerland and he was something of an expert on the subject.’

‘What was he doing in South Africa?’

‘Much the same sort of thing. Getting arrested. He had an overwhelming desire to expose his genitals to unsuspecting civilians. This simply didn’t cut him out for parish work. So the Church confined him to one of those gulags in the mountains. But that didn’t stop old Wüli. He was as fit as could be and would saunter off, up hill and down dale, like a bloody mountain goat in search of some sympathetic soul to whom he could make his personal revelations. Wüli warned me about the horror and detestation with which economic crimes were regarded in Switzerland. Each nation has its love, Wüli told me: the Regime dreams of naked black women; the English are a nation of child molesters; the Swiss have exchanged their soul for financial security, they worship the franc and hold sacred the bank account.’

‘And Bubé has abased the sacred rites?’

‘It’s worse than that. The account was found to be empty, it’s tantamount to religious blasphemy. He’s in deep trouble.’

‘All of it — gone? But Blanchie — where? How?’

‘Bubé was very cagey about that. He kept trying to defend himself. Said he had no option. He was a victim. The Swiss would wring him out and hand him back to the Regime who’d spent so much time washing their hands of him they had to wear gloves. They were going to blame him for their own decisions, crucify him for saving his country. I put it to him straight. You’ve transferred the money to the other fund, I said. He was ready for this. He looked almost triumphant. There was a flash of the old Bubé, the truculent jeerer of the political platform, scourge of the press, whirlwind diplomat, baby creator — “How could I?” he asked. “There is no other fund.” What about the Kruger fund, I asked. He laughed. “You don’t believe that old story, do you? There were no millions, there is no fund.”’

‘Clever,’ said Kipsel.

‘The President’s vanishing trick. Where are the missing millions? Now you see them, now you don’t. Like Kruger, like Bubé. Clever, and inevitable,’ said Blanchaille. ‘The old man may suffer in the short term, because the Swiss are convinced he’s got the money stashed away. But they won’t find it since the other fund doesn’t exist. And that’s official. The Regime denies the story of the Kruger millions. The Swiss deny the existence of a Kruger asylum here. Therefore it’s not possible for Bubé’s treasure to have joined it. After a while the Swiss will convince themselves that the money Bubé owes them never existed. They never bribed Bubé and he never welshed on his promises to them. The banks will absorb their losses stoically and save face. The Regime will appreciate the value of this. If the money does not exist, nor the secret accounts, then neither does the fraud or the defection of the President, nor the plan for a government-in-exile.’