An acquaintance of mine, lost her expensive Japanese Luxury SUV a few weeks ago. Well, she did not actually loose it, it was stolen by her houseboy.
His duties of cooking and cleaning did not only leave him ample time to plan the theft in great detail, but also gave him the knowledge of where Venus (Not her real name) kept the car papers and the spare keys. And one morning, at around 3 in the night, he took the registration papers and the keys and drove out the compound, while the owner was soundly sleeping in her bed.
When Venus discovered on the next morning that keys, papers and houseboy were missing she went to the police. This being Liberia, she knew that if she wanted the police to investigate, she had to pay. So she offered them 1.000 USD, which is about 15 times the average monthly salary of a policeman, payable on delivery of the car back to her. Naturally the police preferred to be paid in advance, but Venus remained steadfast. This probably hampered the willingness of the police force to investigate the matter further, because nothing was heard from their side ever after.
But Venus is an experienced businesswoman, so she called a friend of hers, and asked him to check the records of the border police to see if her car had left the country. What he reported showed that the houseboy had planned his coup with remarkable tenacity, planning and initiative.
After stealing the car, he must have driven directly from Monrovia to the Guinea Border, since the records of the local security detail showed that her car had crossed into Guinea in the early morning hours. Even more surprising was that, according to ledger, Venus herself had been in the car. The entry clearly showed that a “Venus Nelson” had crossed the border, with two passengers in her car. This clearly surprised Venus, who had been sleeping in her bed during that night. A few more questions later and some dollars poorer, the real Venus Nelson was finally able to piece the story together.
The houseboy had used two accomplices for the job. One was a Guinea national, who arranged for a buyer of the car in Guinea and a place where the necessary change of color could be done. The other was a woman who took care of the paperwork. She obtained a “Laissez-Passer” document from the Liberian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia, under the name of Venus Nelson. The “Laissez Passer” is not a passport, but is used frequently instead of a passport in West-Africa. If the Foreign Ministry was duped into making out the false paper, or if their complicity was bought for a few dollars will never be known. But the false Venus managed to get the car over the border.
The real Venus has given up the hope of ever reclaiming the car. By now it will have a different color, identification number and license plates. And thanks to the false Venus it will have a different owner. After all who can prohibit the owner of a car to sell it, even if it is in Guinea ?
In the end the real Venus has decided to import another car from abroad. And I have repeated my vows to never, ever, have any cook, cleaner or houseboy in my apartment – for obvious reasons.
