Overworld

Book Author - Larry J.Kolb
Book review by - S.S.George
Dean, ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research)

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Kolb was never an intelligence officer – instead, he operated more as a freelance agent, obtaining information from, and through, his wide range of contacts and acquaintances, and often acting as a go-between, combining spying with his own business activities.

The book is particularly of interest to Indians. Kolb was one of the accused in the St. Kitts forgery case. In fact, as the book opens, Kolb is spending time in a safe house in Florida, waiting – somewhat improbably - to be interrogated by someone in a “pearl blue turban'in connection with the St. Kitts affair. A good part of the book is devoted to his role in the affair. Chandraswamy, the self-styled godman who was famous (or notorious) during the late 1980's, and another accused in the case, also figures prominently in the book. Kolb also claims to have been a friend of Rajiv Gandhi, having met him for the first time during a visit to India with Mohammed Ali.

Kolb's role in the St. Kitt's affair was initially to ensure that the story, that V P Singh's son Ajeya Singh had an account with the First Trust Corporation bank at Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis, where he had stashed away 21 million dollars from the kickbacks received by his father. St. Kitts is a Caribbean tax haven which was particularly attractive to money launderers and other shady characters due to its especially customer-friendly banking secrecy laws.

According to Kolb's version of events, he was led to understand that the documents he was being shown – relating to the opening of the bank account – were genuine, and that he was working to help Rajiv Gandhi win the parliamentary elections, which were due shortly in India. Apparently, when the Indians failed in their efforts to plant the story in international newspapers, they approached Khashoggi through Chandraswamy. Khashoggi and Chandraswamy enlisted the help of Kolb, who with his contacts was finally able to ensure that the story appeared in the Arab News, a newspaper published from the Middle East. Later, Kolb traveled several times to Basseterre, to dig up more information to further implicate V P Singh and his sons in the case. He also wrote several of the pieces about the affair that appeared in newspapers around the world. Kolb also accompanied a Deputy Director from the Enforcement Directorate to Basseterre. The official was sent to investigate the matter, and Kolb describes how, after having failed to obtain any information from the bankers, he witnessed the official being fed documents and information, by accomplices of Chandraswamy on the flight back from Basseterre.

In any case, in the parliamentary elections in India, no party won a clear majority. The Congress decided to stay out of the government, and the Janata Party formed the government with the backing of several other parties. The documents that were supplied by Kolb to newspapers were exposed as forgeries, and the new government in India decided to pursue the case. Kolb was a wanted man, trying to evade the CBI investigators who had flown to the US to interrogate him.

The real kicker about the affair comes towards the end of the book. According to Kolb, the real beneficiary of the scandal was Chandrasekhar, a close friend of Chandraswamy. By discrediting V P Singh, Chandrasekhar would have emerged as the favorite for the position of prime minister, should the Janata Party win the election.

The author provides a whole new perspective of Chandraswamy, one which readers of Indian newspapers are unlikely to have come across. His description of Chandraswamy's apartment in New York (provided to him by Khashoggi) and the man himself are hilarious. The Chandraswamy that Kolb describes, whether at a meal, or being given a massage by his masseuse, is not someone familiar to the Indian public.

Kolb professes a deep and genuine admiration and affection for Mohammed Ali, who comes across as a vibrant, warm individual. Similarly, another person whom he admires is Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua, and once the President of the country. When he lost the presidential election to the US backed candidate, there was some doubt as to whether Ortega would relinquish power. So, Chandraswamy, to whom Ortega had taken a liking, was sent to Nicaragua accompanied by Kolb, to pry out information from Ortega about his intentions. In any event, Ortega stepped down, and is still the leader of the opposition.

Several other well known characters make an appearance in the book, among them Dawood Ibrahim and Imelda Marcos. And also, somewhat improbably, Dodi Al-Fayed and Ram Jethmalani too find mentions in the book.

The last part of the book is totally different in tone and mood from the earlier chapters. Kolb is no longer mingling with the rich and famous; instead, he writes of moving from safe house to safe house, trying with the help of his friends in the intelligence community to evade CBI officials who are searching for him, in order to interrogate him in connection with the St. Kitts case. And less believably, he also describes a scene in Las Vegas where he dodges agents from RAW, who have followed him to the city and are hanging around menacingly in the hotel, in the best traditions of spy fiction.

And this, finally is the problem with the book. While the characters Kolb describes are always colorful and the incidents interesting and plausible, somehow, his role in the St. Kitts affair, and the consequences of his actions seem to be somewhat exaggerated. Since one of the essential skills for a spy is dissimulation, the reader is also never quite sure what to believe, and how much to believe.

Nonetheless, the average reader is likely to find the book interesting. Aficionados of conspiracy theories and people who want a different view on how the world works will enjoy the book even more.

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