Chapter 392: The 30 Million Mark Laundering Plan

Chapter 392 -37: The 30 Million Mark Laundering Plan

In June 1990, the entire city of East Berlin was waiting for one date: July 1st.

On that day, East and West Germany would establish an economic, monetary, and social union. From that day on, the East German Mark would be retired from history, replaced by the West German Mark.

The exchange rate had already been set: every East German citizen had a one-to-one exchange allowance for up to 4,000 Marks.

In other words, the first 4,000 Marks you had in the bank could be exchanged one-for-one for true “hard currency”—the West German Mark. Any amount over 4,000 would be exchanged at a two-to-one ratio.

For East Germans, this was an incredible windfall.

After all, on the Black Market, the East German Mark had long been worthless—it took ten East German Marks to exchange for just one West German Mark. But now, the government was saying it would be one-to-one. This meant that the purchasing power of the 4,000 Marks in your bank account would multiply tenfold overnight.

So, throughout June, East Germans were frantically depositing money into their banks.

They pulled out the cash stuffed under their mattresses and deposited it.

They dug out the savings hidden in their walls and deposited it.

Some even sold their family heirloom gold coins, exchanged them for East German Marks, and then deposited them into the bank—because after July 1st, those East German Marks would become West German Marks.

Werner stood at the window of the Koko office, looking down at the street scene below.

Long lines snaked outside the banks, from eight in the morning until eight at night. Everyone had an excited look on their face, as if a new life would begin tomorrow.

The liquidation in May had been a close call, but in the end, the court had ruled his overseas accounts legal. The US Dollars and West German Marks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein were now clean money.

But Werner still had a problem to solve.

A big problem.

「 」

That afternoon, Werner walked into a shabby little tavern.

It was an old establishment in a working-class district of East Berlin. On the walls hung a faded East German flag and a slogan that read, “Serve the People.” The tavern was thick with smoke, and a few workers sat together, drinking local beer and deep in heated discussion.

“Hans, a beer,” Werner said, sitting down at the bar.

Hans, the tavern owner, was a man in his fifties and a former chemical plant worker. He poured Werner a beer.

“Werner, hear what they’re talking about?” Hans asked, nodding toward the group of workers.

Werner listened in.

“Let me tell you, on July 1st, I’ll be the first one to rush into the bank!” a young worker named Fritz said excitedly. “I’ve saved up 8,000 Marks. The first 4,000 can be exchanged one-to-one, and the other 4,000 at two-to-one. I’ll get 6,000 West German Marks in total!”

“You only have 8,000?” another, middle-aged worker laughed. “I’ve got 35,000. Even though most of it will be exchanged at two-to-one, I’ll still get 19,500 West German Marks. I’ve never seen so much hard currency in my life!”

“The key is that this money is actually worth something,” Hans chimed in. “The West German Mark isn’t like this worthless stuff of ours. With West German Marks, you can buy a Siemens refrigerator, you can buy a Volkswagen, you can buy…”

“You can buy bananas!” Fritz laughed. “I saw on TV yesterday that bananas in West Berlin are only two Marks a kilogram. After July 1st, I’ll be able to eat all the bananas I want!”

Everyone laughed.

But soon, an old worker sighed. “I just don’t know if we’ll be able to keep our jobs. Our factory is already at a semi-standstill. I heard that after July, West Germans are going to take over. There will definitely be layoffs then.”

The mood suddenly grew heavy.

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Fritz said. “Even if I lose my job, I’ll still have these savings. Besides, unemployment benefits in West Germany are higher than our wages. I heard you can get 800 Marks a month.”

“That’s the standard for West Germany,” the old worker said, shaking his head. “Who knows if East Germany will get the same treatment.”

Werner listened quietly, sipping his beer without interjecting.

Hans noticed him and leaned in to whisper, “Werner, you must know what’s going on, right? What’s really going to happen after July?”

Werner put down his glass. “Hans, what I can tell you is that the one-to-one exchange is real. There’s no problem with that policy. As for the jobs…”

He paused. “Many factories will go bankrupt, and many people will lose their jobs. But there will also be new opportunities. The question is, who can seize them.”

“You can, right?” Hans asked, looking at him.

Werner smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

Just then, Fritz walked over. “Werner! I heard you’re acquiring factories?”

Werner looked at him. “Where did you hear that?”

“It’s all over East Berlin,” Fritz said. “They say you’re lending money to factories on the verge of bankruptcy. Is it true?”

Werner didn’t deny it. “Something like that.”

“Then can you help our factory too?” Fritz said eagerly. “We’re a machinery plant. We used to make tractor parts, but now we have no orders. The director says if we can’t make it through this month, we’ll have to close down.”

Werner looked at him. “How many workers does your factory have?”

“Over two hundred.”

“What about the equipment?”

“It’s all old equipment from the fifties and sixties, but it’s still usable.”

Werner thought for a moment. “Have your factory director come talk to me.”

Fritz’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s great!”

The other workers also gathered around, clamoring to ask if Werner could help their factories.

Werner smiled and waved his hand. “Gentlemen, I’m not a savior. I’m a businessman. I only invest in valuable enterprises.”

“Then what kind of enterprise is valuable?” the old worker asked.

“Those with technology, a market, and potential,” Werner said. “Or, to put it another way, those that can survive the competition from West Germany.”

“There are barely any of those, then,” the old worker said with a bitter smile. “How can our East German enterprises possibly compete with West Germany?”

Werner didn’t argue. The old worker was speaking the truth.

But Werner also knew that for this very reason, now was the perfect opportunity.

「 」

Werner’s real problem wasn’t how to invest in factories.

It was how to launder money.

He had a huge sum of East German Marks in his possession—accumulated over the years through the Black Market, Koko, and various gray-area transactions. Some of it was hidden in secret vaults, some was in the accounts of underground banks, and some was held in cash, distributed among various agents.

The total was about 30 million East German Marks.

The origin of this money was unknown and inexplicable.

If he took it to a bank to be exchanged, it would immediately trigger an investigation.

But if he didn’t exchange it, after July 1st, this money would become a pile of worthless paper.

What Werner needed was to use the currency union to wash this dirty money clean.

Money that went through the “legal exchange” on July 1st would appear in bank records as “Funds acquired via the July 1, 1990 currency union exchange.” This was the highest grade of clean money. When acquiring major West German corporations in the future, it would withstand auditing far better than those “overseas assets deemed legal due to insufficient evidence.”

This was the true value of the currency union to Werner.