ashesatthereintheboat；blokvistfilledhisglasswithreiersholsbrandyandleanedback；tryingtoreeberwhatlittleheknewaboutwennerstr？。bornupinnorrland；whereintheseventieshesetupaninvestentpany。headeoneyandovedtostockhol；andtherehiscareertookoffintheeighties。hecreatedwennerstr？…gruppen；thewennerstr？group；whentheysetupofficesinlondonandnewyorkandthepanystartedtogetentionedinthesaearticlesasbeijer。hetradedstockandoptionsandlikedtoakequickdeals；andheeergedinthecelebritypressasoneofsweden’snuerousbillionaireswithacityhoeonstrandv？gen；afabuloussuervillaontheislandofv？rd？；andaneighty…two…foototoryachtthatheboughtfroabankruptforertennisstar。hewasabeancounter；naturally；buttheeightieswasthedecadeofthebeancountersandpropertyspeculators；andwennerstr？hadnotadeasignificantlybigsplash。onthecontrary；hehadreainedsoethingofaanintheshadowsaonghispeers。helackedjanstenbeck’sflaboyanceanddidnotspreadhiselfalloverthetabloidslikepercybarnevik。hesaidgoodbyetorealestateandinsteadadeassiveinvestentsintheforereasternbloc。whenthebubbleburstintheniiesandoneanagingdirectorafteranotherwasforcedtocashinhisgoldenparachute；wennerstr？’spanycaeoutofitinrearkablygoodshape。“aswedishsuessstory；”asthefinancialtiescalledit。
“thatwas1992；”lindbergsaid。“wennerstr？contactedaiaandsaidhewantedfunding。hepresentedaplan；seeinglybackedbyinterestsinpoland；whichaiedatestablishinganindustryfortheanufactureofpackagingforfoodstuffs。”
“atin…canindustry；youean。”
“notquite；butsoethingalongthoselines。ihavenoideawhoheknewattheaia；buthewalkedoutwithsixtyillionkronor。”
“thisisstartingtogetinteresting。leteguess：thatwasthelastanyonesawoftheoney。”
“wrong。”lindberggaveaslysilebeforehefortifiedhiselfwithafeworesipsofbrandy。
“whathappenedafterthatisapieceofclassickeeping。wennerstr？reallydidsetupapackagingfactoryinpoland；inlodz。thepanywascalledminos。aiareceivedafewenthusiasticreportsduring1993；thensilence。in1994；minos；outoftheblue；collapsed。”
lindbergputhiseptyglassdownwithanephaticsack。
“theproblewithaiawasthattherewasnorealsysteinplaceforreportingontheproject。youreeberthosedays：everyonewassooptiisticwhentheberlinwallcaedown。deocracywasgoingtobeintroduced；thethreatofnuclearwarwasover；andthebolshevikswouldturnintoregularlittlecapitalistsovernight。thegovernentwantedtonaildowndeocracyintheeast。everycapitalistwantedtojuponthebandwagonandhelpbuildtheneweurope。”
“ididn’tknowthatcapitalistsweresoanxioustogetinvolvedincharity。”
“believee；itwasacapitalist’swetdrea。russiaandeasterneuropeaybetheworld’sbiggestuntappedarketsafterchina。industryhadnoproblejoininghandswiththegovernent；especiallywhenthepanieswererequire. comutuponlyatokeninvestent。inall；aiaswallowedaboutthirtybillionkronorofthetaxpayers’oney。itwassupposedtoebackinfutureprofits。forally；aiawasthegovernent’sinitiative；buttheinfluenceofindustrywassogreatthatinactualfacttheaiaboardwasoperatingindependently。”
“soisthereastoryinallthis？”
“bepatient。whentheprojectstartedtherewasnoproblewithfinancing。swedenhadn’tyetbeenhitbytheinterest…rateshock。thegovernentwashapp. comlugaiaasoneofthebiggestswedisheffort. comrootedeocracyintheeast。”
“andthiswasallundertheconservativegovernent？”
“don’tgetpoliticsixedupinthis。it’sallaboutoneyanditakesnodifferenceifthesocialdeocratsortheoderatesappointtheinisters。so；fullspeedahead。thencaetheforeign…exchangeprobles；andafterthatsoecrazynewdeocrats—reeberthe？—startedwhiningthattherewasashortageofoversightinwhataiawasinto。oneoftheirhenchenhadconfusedaiawiththeswedishinternationaldevelopentauthorityandthoughtitwasallsoedando…gooderprojectliketheoneintanzania。inthespringof1994aissionwasappointedtoinvestigate。atthattietherewereconcernsaboutseveralprojects；butoneofthefirsttobeinvestigatedwasminos。”
“andwennerstr？couldn’tshohatthefundshadbeenusedfor。”
“farfroit。heproducedanexcellentreportwhichshowedthataroundfifty…fourillionkronorwasinvestedinminos。butitturnedoutthatthereweretooanyhugeadinistrativeproblesinwhatwasleftofpolandforaodernpackagingindustrytobeabletofunction。inpracticetheirfactorywasshutoutbythepetitionfroasiilargeranproject。thegeransweredoingtheirbesttobuyuptheentireeasternbloc。”
“yousaidthathehadbeengivensixtyillionkronor。”
“exactly。theoneyservedasaninterest…freeloan。theidea；ofcourse；wasthatthepanieswouldpaybackpartoftheoneyoveranuberofyears。butminoshadgoneunderandwennerstr？couldnotbeblaedforit。herethestateguaranteeskickedin；andwennerstr？wasindenified。allheneededtodowaspaybacktheoneythatwaslostwhenminoswentunder；andhecouldalsoshowthathehadlostacorrespondingaountofhisownoney。”
“leteseeifiunderstandthiscorrectly。thegovernentsuppliedbillionsintaxoney；anddiploatstoopendoors。industriesgottheoneyandusedittoinvestinjointventuresfrowhichtheylaterreapedvastprofits。inotherwords；businessasusual。”
“you’reacynic。theloansweresupposedtobepaidbacktothestate。”
“yousaidthattheywereinterest…free。sothateansthetaxpayersgotnothingatallforputtingupthecash。wennerstr？gotsixtyillion；andinvestedfifty…fourillionofit。whathappenedtotheothersixillion？”
“whenitbecaeclearthattheaiaprojectwasgoingtobeinvestigated；wennerstr？sentachequeforsixilliontoaiaforthedifference。sotheatterwassettled；legallyatleast。”
“itsoundsasthoughwennerstr？fritteredawayalittleoneyforaia。butparedwiththehalfbillionthatdisappearedfroskanskaortheceoofabb’sgoldenparachuteoforethanabillionkronor—whichreallyupsetpeople—thisdoesn’tseetobeuchtowriteabout；”blokvistsaid。“today’sreadersareprettytiredofstoriesaboutinpetentspeculators；evenifit’swithpublicfunds。isthereoretothestory？”
“itgetsbetter。”
“howdoyouknowallthisaboutwennerstr？’sdealsinpoland？”
“iworkedathandelsbankenintheniies。guesswhowrotethereportsforthebank’srepresentativeinaia？”
“aha。telleore。”
“well；aiagottheirreportfrowennerstr？。docuentsweredrawnup。thebalanceoftheoneyhadbeenpaidback。thatsixillioningbackwasveryclever。”
“gettothepoint。”
“but；ydearblokvist
