Read Online Trail of Greed: Fighting Fraud and Corruption... A Dangerous Game by John Dysart - Free Book Online
Authors: John Dysart
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me as much as they said it would when I signed up.”
“And you’re thinking of moving it?” “I can’t yet because it’s tied up for five years and I’ve another three years to go.”
People were starting to move back into the auditorium. “Let’s go and see what they have to say and we’ll talk a little afterwards, if you’re not dashing off.”
“No, I’m not. See you afterwards then,” and she bustled off inside.
I took my place, ready for the AIM presentation or what I guessed would be the Alan Purdy show. I would definitely have to have a word with Alice afterwards.
Once everyone had settled down Mr Purdy was announced as one of Edinburgh’s success stories. He stood beaming and welcomed us all, thanked the two previous speakers for their erudite performances, cracked a couple of jokes which, although not particularly funny, were met by the obligatory laughter – mainly from the younger bunch.
His presentation was slick. There is no doubt about that. Power Point slides with multi-coloured graphs succeeded one another at just the right speed. You had time to absorb the effect of the slide while he pointed out the one or two numbers he wanted you to notice and then on to the next one. There was no way the slide was up long enough for anyone to fully absorb the detail.
The whole thing was very upbeat. Intelligently, he mentioned a couple of investments that had not turned out quite as well as expected but they had not had a major effect on the overall picture.
“We pride ourselves at AIM in our capacity and nerve to take risk – measured risks. That’s where the money is. Perhaps not today but at some point in the future we are sure that the risk ventures will come through.”
He was in command. He had his audience’s full attention. It was a mixture of plain language interspersed with just enough technical terms and buzzwords to sound very convincing. The trouble was it was mostly flannel. He succeeded in convincing everybody that last year’s growth of three point nine per cent and the upside potential of the riskier investments, linked to the likely overall economic indicators for the next few years was an excellent performance – even better than the previous year’s three point five per cent.
A very satisfied Mr Purdy sat down to applause from the audience and congratulatory handshakes from his fellow presenters.
The Master of Ceremonies then announced that Mr Purdy would be happy to take questions from the hall. As always on these occasions there was silence for a few moments. Then an earnest young lady from the middle of the young bunch stood up and asked the first question. It was something to do with the ratio of fixed and variable returns in the portfolio which could have been answered with two or three simple figures, but somehow Purdy managed to spin out his answer to last about five minutes. Definitely a man who liked the sound of his own voice. He’d have been a good game show host.
Another couple of inane questions followed which were summarily dealt with and then our organiser looked at his watch and announced.
“We’ve time for one more question.”
I got to my feet, a couple of sheets of paper in my hand with some numbers on them which I had jotted down the day before.
I noticed Pierre, Steven and Alice all turn their heads towards me.
“I have a question for Mr Purdy.” Purdy was at this point smiling at the taxman sitting next to him, obviously thinking that his job was done. He wasn’t paying much attention to me.
“I’d first like to congratulate Mr Purdy on his very polished delivery.”
That got his attention. He smiled at me and nodded his thanks.
I pretended I was consulting my notes and glanced up and eyeballed him. The smile faded slightly. He started to look a little nervous.
“I’ve been looking at the results of other funds of similar size and the average growth figures I have is seven point two per cent for last year – some hitting as
“And you’re thinking of moving it?” “I can’t yet because it’s tied up for five years and I’ve another three years to go.”
People were starting to move back into the auditorium. “Let’s go and see what they have to say and we’ll talk a little afterwards, if you’re not dashing off.”
“No, I’m not. See you afterwards then,” and she bustled off inside.
I took my place, ready for the AIM presentation or what I guessed would be the Alan Purdy show. I would definitely have to have a word with Alice afterwards.
Once everyone had settled down Mr Purdy was announced as one of Edinburgh’s success stories. He stood beaming and welcomed us all, thanked the two previous speakers for their erudite performances, cracked a couple of jokes which, although not particularly funny, were met by the obligatory laughter – mainly from the younger bunch.
His presentation was slick. There is no doubt about that. Power Point slides with multi-coloured graphs succeeded one another at just the right speed. You had time to absorb the effect of the slide while he pointed out the one or two numbers he wanted you to notice and then on to the next one. There was no way the slide was up long enough for anyone to fully absorb the detail.
The whole thing was very upbeat. Intelligently, he mentioned a couple of investments that had not turned out quite as well as expected but they had not had a major effect on the overall picture.
“We pride ourselves at AIM in our capacity and nerve to take risk – measured risks. That’s where the money is. Perhaps not today but at some point in the future we are sure that the risk ventures will come through.”
He was in command. He had his audience’s full attention. It was a mixture of plain language interspersed with just enough technical terms and buzzwords to sound very convincing. The trouble was it was mostly flannel. He succeeded in convincing everybody that last year’s growth of three point nine per cent and the upside potential of the riskier investments, linked to the likely overall economic indicators for the next few years was an excellent performance – even better than the previous year’s three point five per cent.
A very satisfied Mr Purdy sat down to applause from the audience and congratulatory handshakes from his fellow presenters.
The Master of Ceremonies then announced that Mr Purdy would be happy to take questions from the hall. As always on these occasions there was silence for a few moments. Then an earnest young lady from the middle of the young bunch stood up and asked the first question. It was something to do with the ratio of fixed and variable returns in the portfolio which could have been answered with two or three simple figures, but somehow Purdy managed to spin out his answer to last about five minutes. Definitely a man who liked the sound of his own voice. He’d have been a good game show host.
Another couple of inane questions followed which were summarily dealt with and then our organiser looked at his watch and announced.
“We’ve time for one more question.”
I got to my feet, a couple of sheets of paper in my hand with some numbers on them which I had jotted down the day before.
I noticed Pierre, Steven and Alice all turn their heads towards me.
“I have a question for Mr Purdy.” Purdy was at this point smiling at the taxman sitting next to him, obviously thinking that his job was done. He wasn’t paying much attention to me.
“I’d first like to congratulate Mr Purdy on his very polished delivery.”
That got his attention. He smiled at me and nodded his thanks.
I pretended I was consulting my notes and glanced up and eyeballed him. The smile faded slightly. He started to look a little nervous.
“I’ve been looking at the results of other funds of similar size and the average growth figures I have is seven point two per cent for last year – some hitting as
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