Deepak Tripathi had been in the custody suite for only an hour when Gillard arrived with DS Shireen Corey-Williams to interview him. Tripathi was already slouched at the interview table with a uniformed PC standing over him.

When the two detectives came into the room accompanied by the duty solicitor, Deepak jumped to his feet.

‘What on earth did you think you were doing, hauling me off the flight? I have urgent business to attend to in India, and the survival of our family firm depends on it. My phone’s been taken off me, and I’m told the police are upending my home.’

‘Just take a seat and calm down,’ Gillard said. ‘You are being held in connection with a fraud at Empire of Spice, and I hope you will able to provide us with some assistance.’

The businessman, smoothly attired in a well-fitting suit and a still-pristine white shirt, ran both hands through his dark swept-back hair and fixed him with a glare. ‘You’ve got this all wrong. I’m part of the solution, not part of the problem.’

Gillard ran through the formalities for the benefit of the tape, including a formal caution, while the female duty solicitor checked that the detainee had no complaints about the way he had been arrested, and how he was being held. As it turned out there were many, which took several minutes to detail.

‘I shall be taking legal action against Surrey Police for financial losses over the flight, and the public and humiliating way in which I was arrested in front of other passengers, causing damage to my reputation and standing.’

‘Good luck with that,’ Gillard said.

When he had finally calmed down enough, Deepak sat back down in the chair with his hands cupped behind his head. ‘So what do you want to know?’

Shireen looked down at her notes. ‘According to our information, you, as the sole director of the property subsidiary EoS Ltd (Property), on October 27 last year, secured a £108 million mortgage against the property assets of the company.’ She looked up at him. ‘Is that correct?’

‘Yes.’

‘Under the articles of association of the company, any borrowings of over £1 million need the full backing of a board meeting. We can find no record of such a board meeting.’

Deepak laughed. ‘Secured borrowing within the division is excluded from that formal procedure. In any case, I discussed the plans with Harry and his mother, and they were fine with it.’

Shireen looked down at her notes. ‘There is no record of any approval, and Harry in his statement said that he knew nothing about it.’

Deepak gave a short sardonic laugh. ‘Harry, well, he’s not quite got his eye on the ball, has he? He is just very confused.’ The thin smile conveyed some rather deeper meaning.

Gillard leaned forward. ‘Mr Tripathi, what was the purpose of this mortgage?’

‘To pursue investment opportunities. You can see that on the bank letter of approval.’

‘Is that how you put it to Harry?’ he asked.