Now published, “Sanctioned”, the 3rd book in the JIM SIMONS series. To order your copy in paperback or Kindle from Amazon, see HERE.
In 2003, the war on terror was in full flow and had taken an unexpected turn. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had been invaded and the dictator’s regime had fallen in just a few weeks. Whilst the Americans and their allies were now in charge in Baghdad, they were still missing what they wanted most, the “Ace of Spades”, as he was known by US Intelligence. President Saddam Hussein had escaped and was still in hiding after more than 6 months. If he could stay a fugitive, he could bring together anti-colonial forces, and in time, lead the fight back. Capturing Saddam was the number one priority of the US and allied forces. It was also what the Iraqi public demanded. Whilst Saddam was still at large, the Iraqi people couldn’t trust any future that was promised to them.
Simons and his team at the Bank of Zurich, would unknowingly become intertwined in what would become the world’s biggest manhunt, but what they didn’t know was that their new sanctions compliance policy, and what started as a simple investigation into sanctions evasion, would put them in the middle of a race to stabilise an entire country, and to save the blushes of a thankful America. Their investigations and work in Australia, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Israel and Switzerland in just 7 remarkable days, meant Simons and his team had to navigate the challenges of doing what they needed to do to protect themselves, and to share vital information that would make all the difference. A bereaved family, the victims of terror just like Simons himself, were counting on him, but could he succeed when at every turn powerful forces were against him.
Simons has to find a way, or fail trying, even when Swiss banking secrecy might at the very least prevent it. Could he again come up with a way to satisfy his desire for justice, while keeping his conscience clean.
To order your copy in paperback or Kindle from Amazon, see HERE.
Message from Mark Pieth
Mark Pieth is a Swiss lawyer, founder of the Basel Institute on Governance, and Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery from 1990 – 2013. He was also a member of the 3-person Independent Enquiry Committee (IIC) investigating the UN Oil For Food Programme 2004 – 2005
In “Sanctioned“ John Cusack situates this novel in a year when the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food Programme had come to an end after almost 8 years. As a Member of the 3-person Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) investigating the UN Oil For Food Programme (OFFP) from 2004, I saw first-hand how kickbacks demanded by the Iraqi regime had become institutionalised.
Of more concern was that those commercial enterprises supplying the Iraqi regime with food and humanitarian goods were far too prepared to pay bribes, which we estimated at US$1.8 Billion on the side to Saddam Hussein’s regime in breach of the terms of the UN OFF Programme and in breach of UN and international sanctions.
Whilst international standards on foreign bribery had been agreed with the coming into force of the OECD’s Foreign Bribery Convention in 1999, which had 36 signatory countries by 2003, country implementation in full remained a work in progress. The findings from the IIC laid this conclusion bare and helped create a further necessary incentive to criminalise foreign bribery in all its forms, including so called passive bribery, which the IIC largely uncovered.
In Sanctioned, John Cusack reminds the reader that there is much to be learned from history, and those that are keen to fight financial crime should enjoy and learn much from this novel despite it being categorised as “fiction”.
These books. their contents and the characters are entirely fiction except where expressly stated, otherwise for example the use of a real persons name or actions in the story. They are inspired by true events and or informed by experiences of the Author and or of his professional colleagues who have shared and discussed plot lines and characters.
Any likeness of any character to anyone in the real world is purely unintentional as each is a unique made up character in their own right.
