Georgia butted in. ‘But if SJ had a secret plan to steal money and hide it from the rest of Julius’s family, why the hell did he get Julius to go to the bank?’

‘Losing the election was a surprise,’ Julius said. ‘SJ had to grab the money while he was still in power. Eddie and the paperwork were in London. He had to risk using me, or not get the money at all.’

Miles nodded. ‘If I asked Matt to go to the bank, I’d expect him to moan and ask for twenty quid, not launch a detailed investigation into my finances. SJ underestimated Julius, which gives us the upper hand.’

‘The upper hand to do what?’ John asked suspiciously.

Miles smirked. ‘If we want to be good citizens, we box up this paperwork. I’ll call the Serious Fraud Office. They’ll freeze every bank account on this whiteboard and take the money away. Eventually, most will find its way back to Ondo State Government.’

‘A lump of unexpected cash for the Rotimi clan to steal,’ Julius scoffed. ‘What’s the other option?’

‘SJ lost the election six months ago,’ Miles began. ‘We can’t be certain the money hasn’t been spent or transferred, but since SJ hasn’t sent anyone to London to pick up documents and chequebooks I’m guessing it hasn’t been touched.’

‘Can we get at the money with the paperwork we have here?’ Julius asked.

Miles nodded. ‘An accountant, such as myself, can get power of attorney. This enables me to manage a person’s finances, look at their account statements, purchase shares, move money, pay taxes and so on. To get power of attorney for SJ, I need financial documentation for all his accounts, which I have here. Along with SJ Adebisi’s signature on a set of forms.’

‘I faked his signature for all those transfers,’ Julius said, then realised Miles had already worked this out.

‘Once I get power of attorney – I won’t use my own name or company, obviously – I can set up bank accounts in Julius’s name and transfer SJ’s money to him. If we move fast, Julius will have control over the money before SJ knows what we’re up to. And he can’t go running to the cops, because he stole the money in the first place …’

‘Neat,’ Georgia purred.

John looked more cynical. ‘What’s your cut?’

‘Twenty-five per cent is normal,’ Miles said. ‘But since the amounts are large and Julius is a family friend, I’ll do it for fifteen.’

‘That’s seven and a half million quid,’ John said.

Miles looked slightly ticked off. ‘John, if this goes wrong, it’ll be me that goes to prison, not the kid. So yeah, I’ll make a lot of money, but my nuts are on the chopping block.’

‘Fifteen per cent sounds fair,’ Julius said. ‘How long will it take?’