Few people showed much interest when Anuj Shergill was appointed India's finance minister. After all, the critics pointed out, he was the seventeenth man to be holding the office in the same amount of time. In Anuj's first public statement to the parliament he promised to end graft and corruption in the public life and warned that no one holding an official position could feel safe unless he led a blameless life. He ended his maiden speech with the words, "I intend to clear out to India's dirts." Such was the impact of the minster's speech that it failed to get a mention in the times. Perhaps the editor considered that, since the paper had covered the speeches of the previous sixteen ministers in extension. His readers might feel that they had heard it all before. Anuj was however not to be disheartened by the lack of confidence that people used to show in him. He instead set out to do his new task with more vigour and determination than before. Within days of his appointment he had caused the arrest of a minor official at the ministry of food and health for the falsification of documents relating to the imports of grains. The next to feel the bristles of Anuj's new broom was a leading Dubai financier, who was deported without trial for the breach of the exchange control regulations. A few months later an event came which Anuj considered a personal coup; the arresting of the police chief for the acceptance of bribes----- a perk that the citizens of delhi had in the past considered went with the jobs. When five months later the police chief was sentenced to twenty months in jail, the new finance minister made it to the front page of the times of India. A leader on the centre page dubbed him "Vigilante Anuj", the new messiah every guilty man feared. Anuj's reputation as the Mr. Vigilante continued to grow as the arrests followed more arrests and unfounded rumours began circulating in the capital that even jay shah, the head of the state was under the investigation by his very own finance minister. Anuj alone now checked, vetted and also authorised all of the foreign affairs worth over billions of dollars. And although every of the decisions that he made were minutely scrutinised by his enemies, not a breath of scandal could be associated with Anuj. When he was in his second year as the minister of finance even the cynics now began to acknowledge his achievements. It was about this time that jay shah felt confident enough to call Anuj in for an unscheduled consultation. The head of the state welcomed the minister to his personal home and ushered him to a comfortable chair in his study room that overlooked the garden. Anuj, I have just finished going over the latest budget report and I am alarmed by your conclusion that the exchequer is still losing millions of dollars every year in bribes paid to go-betweens by foreign companies. Do you have any Idea of into whose pockets all of this money is falling into? That is what I want to know." Anuj sat upright, his eyes never failing to meet that of the head of the state. "I know that all of the money is falling into some private swiss account but it's not too easy to find out at this point of time." "Then I will give you all the authorities that you shall be requiring to do so," said jay shah. "You can use any means that you consider to be necessary to ferret out these villains. Start by the investigation of each and every member of my cabinet, past as well as present. And show no fear or favour in your endeavours, no matter what the ranks or connections might be." "For such a task to have any chance of success I would need a special letter of authority signed by you, jay......" Then it will be on your desk by six in the evening," said the head of the state. " and the rank of the diplomatic ambassador whenever I travel abroad." "Granted." "Thank you," said Anuj, rising up from his chair on the assumption that the audience was over. "You might also need this." Said the head as they walked towards the door. The head of the state handed Anuj a small automatic pistol. "Because I suppose that now you almost have the same number of enemies as I do." Anuj took the pistol from the head awkwardly, put it in his pocket and mumbled his thanks. Without another word passing between the two men Anuj left his leader and was driven back to his ministry. Without the knowledge of the governor of the reserve bank of India and unhindered by any senior civil servants, Anuj enthusiastically set about doing his new job. He researched alone all night, and by the day's he did not discuss anything about the researches with anybody. Four months later he was all ready to pounce. The minister selected the month of June to make an unscheduled visit abroad as it was the time when most of the Indians went on holidays and his absence would therefore not be worthy of any comment whatsoever. He asked his personal assistant to book him, his wife and their two children on a flight to Orlando, and to be certain that it was charged on to his personal account. On their arrival in Florida the family checked into the local Marriot hotel. He then informed his wife, without warning or explanation, that he would be spending a few days in New York for some business before rejoining them for the rest of the holiday. The following morning Anuj left his family to the mysteries of the Disneyland while he took off on a flight to New York. It was a short cab ride from la guardia to Kennedy, where, after a change of clothes and the purchase of a return tourist ticket for cash, Anuj boarded a swissair flight for Geneva unobsurved. Once in the swiss capital Anuj booked into a inconspicuous hotel, retired to bed and slept soundly for almost eight hours. Over breakfast the following morning he studied the list of all the banks he had so carefully drawn up after the completion of his research in India: each name was written boldly in his own hand. Anuj decided to start with Gerber et cie whose building, he observed from the hotel bedroom, took up half of the avenue de parchine. He checked the telephone number with the concierge before placing a call. The chairman agreed to see him at twelve in the afternoon. Carrying only a battered briefcase, Anuj arrived at the bank a few minutes before the scheduled appointment. A young man who was dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and a grey silk tie was waiting for him. He bowed to the minister and said that he was the chairman's personal assistant and that he would accompany him to the chairman's office. The young executive led the minister to a waiting lift and neither man uttered another word until they reached the eleventh floor. A gentle tap on the chairman's door elicited "entrez", which the young man obeyed. "The indian minister of finance, sir". The chairman rose from behind his desk and stepped forward To greet his guest. Anuj could not help noticing that he too wore a grey suit, white shirt and a grey silk tie. "Good morning, minister," the chairman said: "have a seat." He ushered Anuj towards a low glass table surrounded by comfortable chairs on the far side of the room. " I have ordered coffee for the both of us if that is acceptable." Anuj nodded, placed his battered briefcase on the floor by the side of his chair and stared out of the large plate-glass window. He made some small chat about the splendid view of the magnificent fountain while a girl served all three men with coffee. Once the young woman left the room Anuj got down to the business. "My head of state has requested that I visit your bank with a rather unusual request," he began. Not a flicker of surprise appeared on the face of the chairman or his young assistant. "He has honoured me with the task of discovering which indian citizen hold numbered accounts with the bank." On learning this piece of information only the chairman's lips moved. " I am not at the liberty to disclose----" Allow me to put my case", said the minister, raising a white Palm." First, let me assure you that I come with the absolute authority of my government." Without any further word, Anuj extracted an envelope from inside his pocket with a flourish. He handed it to the chairman who removed the letter inside and read it slowly. Once he had finished reading, the banker cleared his throat. " this document, I fear, sir, carries no validity whatsoever in my country." He replaced it in the envelope and handed it back to Anuj. " I do not doubt that you have the complete backing of your head of state, both as a minister and an ambassador, but that does not change the bank's rule of confidentiality in such matters. There are no circumstances in which we would release the names of any of our account holders without their authority. I am sorry to be of such a little help, but those are, and will always remain the bank rules." The chairman rose to his feet, as he considered the meeting was now at an end; but he had not bargained for clean sweep Anuj. "My head of state has authorised me to approach your bank to act as the intermediary for all further transactions between my country and that of Switzerland. "We are flattered by the amount of confidence that you have shown in us, minister," replied the chairman, who remained standing. " however, I feel sure that you will understand that it cannot alter our attitude to our customer and their confidentiality." Anuj remained unperturbed. "Then I am extremely sorry to inform you, Mr Gerber, that our ambassador in Geneva will be given instructions to make an official communique to the swiss foreign office about the lack of cooperation your bank has been showing concerning the requests for the informations pertaining to our nationals." He waited for his words to sink in. " you could avoid such embarrassment, for sure if you let me know the names of my countrymen who hold accounts with Gerber et cie and the amounts that are involved. I can assure you that we will, no matter what, reveal the sources of our information." "You are most welcome to lodge such a communique, sir, and I feel sure that our minister will explain it to your Ambassador in the most courteous of diplomatic language that the foreign ministry does not have the authority under the swiss law to be demanding such disclosures." "If that shall be the case, I shall give special instructions to my own ministry of trade and commerce to halt all further dealings in India with any swiss national until these names are revealed." "That is your privilege, minister," replied the chairman, unmoved. "And we may also have to reconsider every contract being negotiated by your countrymen in India. And in addition I shall personally see to it that no penalty clauses are honored." "Would you not consider such action a little precipitate?" "Let me assure you, Mr Gerber, that I would not lose one moment of sleep over such a decision," said Anuj. "Even if my efforts to disclose those names were to bring your country to its knees I would not be moved." "So be it, minister," replied the chairman. "However, it still does not alter the policy or the attitude of this bank to confidentiality. Not one bit." "If that remains the scenario, sir, this very day I shall give instructions to our ambassador to close our embassy in Geneva and I shall declare your ambassador in New Delhi unacceptable and illegal." For the very first time the chairman raised his eyebrows. "Furthermore," continued Anuj, "I shall hold a conference in London which will leave the world's press in no doubt of the head of state's displeasure with the conducts of this bank. After such publicity I am pretty sure that many of your valued customers would prefer to close their accounts, while others who have looked upon you as a safe haven in the past to be looking at someplace new." The minister waited but the chairman still did not respond. "Then you do not leave me with any options." Said Anuj, rising from his seat. The chairman stretched out his arm, assuming that at last the minister was leaving, only to watch in horror as Anuj placed a hand in his jacket pocket and removed a small pistol. The two swiss bankers froze as the indian Minster of finance stepped forward and pressed the muzzle against the chairman's temple. "I need those names, Mr Gerber, and by now you must realise that I would not stop at anything. If you do not supply them immediately, I am going to have to blow your head off. Do you get me?" "The chairman gave a slight nod, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. "And he will be next," said Anuj, as he gestured towards the young assistant, who stood quite speechless and paralysed a few paces away. "Get me the names of every indian who holds an account in this bank," Anuj said quietly, looking towards the young man, "or I will blow your chairman's head all over his soft pile carpet. Immediately, do you hear me?" He added sharply. The young man looked towards the chairman, who was now trembling but said quite clearly, "non, Pierre, jamais(no never)." "D'accord(yes I agree with you)"replied the assistant in a whisper. "You can not say that I did not give you every chance." Anuj pulled back the hammer. The sweat was now pouring down the chairman's face and the young man had to turn his eyes away as he waited in terror for the pistol shot. "Excellent," said Anuj, as he removed the gun from the chairman's head and returned to his seat. Both the bankers were still trembling and quite unable to speak. The minister picked up the battered briefcase by the side of his chair and placed it on the glass table in front of him. He pressed the clasps back and the lid flicked up. The two bankers stared down at the neatly packed rows of hundred dollar bills. Every inch of the briefcase had been taken up. The chairman quickly estimated that it probably amounted to around five million dollars. "I wonder, sir," said Anuj, "how I go about opening an account with your bank?"
