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Said the Rabbi, a portly man in a black suit, overcoat and a wide-brimmed black hat under which he wore an embroidered; yarmulke who called himself Isaac BLUM, the other a tall, slender athletic man with short cut military hairstyle, in grey business suit. Who wore no religious insignia of any kind and who introduced himself, as Bezalel Bronfman - ex- Major of the Israeli Air Force - that‘s what he said. Then he said, that he was sent here by RAMON INSURANCE BROKERS, an Israeli Broker, who was a "secret client" of mine, seeking my advice and to be sent on to the suited placement broker, as I by my position in CSB could not get involved.
"Would you like a coffee“
I asked politely;
"No thanks, we would prefer a jasmine tea“
Replied the visitors. I sent Moira to the "local Deli 'to get what they wanted - she came back with tea bags, which she stylishly served in a jar of expensive china - she had her pride. John was already visibly annoyed about the fuss and apologized himself under the pretext of an appointment at Lloyd’s, tucked his "slip case 'under his arm and disappeared. It was finally my metier from now on. When John had left, I turned to the Major:
"Maybe you are so kind to give me a brief description of your project" “Are you by any chance Jewish Mr. Weyrauch"
"No, I belong to no religion - is that a problem?“
(I could not help to think, why Jews have to constantly bring up religion?)
The Rabbi and the Major exchanged a quick glance, then the Major came to the point - talking at a speed that bullets leave the gun barrel of a Kalashnikov:
“we have obtained from the Liberian government, signed by the president Samuel Doe in person, a concession for cutting tropical hard wood in an area of 2500 acres equivalent to 1011 hectares in the “Grand Cape Mount” district over a period 5 years, this produces, given deductions for moist contents, around 30 cubic meters per ha per annum of useable lumber which we pay for USD 3 per cubic meter around 100.000 USD and we sell for 130 to 150 per cubic meter FOB giving a net profit of around USD 16 Million, considering labour cost of around 20%. On this basis we are seeking to protect our investment and profits against ‘License revocation and/or Import/Export Embargo’ or terrorist activities-naturally we have to pay the full license upfront. We were told by Dan Raveh from Ramon that you are a specialist broker for this type of risk and that is the reason we are here. We do understand - believe me - the political risk involved is minimal- but we could imagine an annual premium of USD 150,000 as acceptable, which of course should be rolled into the total sum insured.”
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