EQUITY & INVESTMENT 13

As they stood and watching the flickering screens, the team, augmented by Saunders could not help but show delight in the progress they were making. 136 companies closed thus far - it was a tremendous feat of investigation as well as logistics.

“How many arrests do we have now?” said Saunders, for once almost smiling.

“Nearly 10,000" said Susan, her voice full of triumph and elation.

“And another 4,000 on the run” reminded the Chief, “As well as that, we have seizure orders on 136,000 houses which these companies owned, which means some of the lost money will be recovered”.

“Minus the mortgages of course” said Saunders primly, irritating everyone else who were well aware of the nuts and bolts of the situation. Ignoring the tension that had sprung up, the Chief brought everyone’s mind back to business.

“And their rate of growth I judge to be around plus 2 per week - they won’t be able to keep this up!” he said, unable to disguise his feeling of victory.