The Ambassador

Thank you very much, sir.

Hello, everybody. It's a pleasure to be with you warm, wonderful people.

My name is Mr. Cortzen. I'm a businessman, I'm a diplomat.

I make matches.

Soon I'm going to the Central African Republic -

- to represent the interests of Liberia there.

I hope you will pray to God to watch over me there.

It is a dangerous place, but I will do my best to accomplish my mission.

Praised be the Lord, and it's wonderful to be with you today.

I hope to see you again soon.

- Hey, Mads. - Colin, nice to see you.

- Likewise, likewise. - Let's go.

- Wow! - This here...

- This is... - It's like a castle.

Leave our jackets, because it's going to be quite hot.

I'd appreciate it if you left your mobile phone. I'm going to leave mine.

- And your bag. Just leave everything. - Yes, okay.

I've asked you to leave your mobile phone and everything -

- because I don't want this conversation to be recorded.

This conversation that we're about to have never happened.

I have a good feeling -

- that your interest in the Central African Republic goes deeper.

I think that your goal is -

- you want to have uncluttered access with diplomatic credentials -

- in and out of a diamond-producing zone.

- That as well. - Okay.

From this point there's no going back.

Here ends my life as a Danish journalist.

What awaits me is a life where I can operate freely -

- beyond all moral boundaries known to man -

- while still being a respectable member of society.

A life where I can indulge myself in secret state affairs -

enjoy red carpet treatment -

- and travel the world with a suitcase full of diamonds.

What I'm talking about is, of course, a life as an African diplomat.

Welcome to the Central African Republic (CAR).

I'm having sundowners with a Sudanese diplomat -

overlooking the capital Bangui.

In my tuxedo pocket is a diplomatic passport which says -

- I'm the Liberian consul and ambassador at large to the CAR.

As such, I did my very best to represent Liberia.

On behalf of Liberia, I'd like to welcome you all to this soiree.

To be frank with you, I'm not a very skilled diplomat.

- I'm bad at protocol. - Mads is not a talented diplomat.

But I'm very good with alcohol, which I hope you will appreciate.

How did I become a diplomat in the CAR? The story begins in Portugal.

Here on the outskirts of the town of Coimbra reside the Evans brothers -

- a second-generation British diplomatic title brokerage -

headed by the oldest brother -

- former Royal Marine commando Colin Evans.

A white European with a reason to travel back and forth out of Europe -

- to a diamond-producing country in Africa -

- and back again on a regular basis with diplomatic credentials -

- is a very, very, very valuable piece of kit.

And I know exactly how valuable it is.

I could put that up on the brokerage as a definition.

For a million euros it would go in a week.

Working as a freelance diplomat -

- Colin Evans inhabits a highly bizarre unchartered netherworld.

For lots of money he brokers diplomatic titles -

- between cash-starved, desperate third world countries -

- and people who desire to become diplomats.

My concern is this: If there is any monetary transaction -

- between you and me or you and the brokerage -

- and you do get involved in anything that is nefarious -

it will come back on us badly.

And we're frankly not prepared to take the risk on that.

But we have a plan.

Not wanting to put my eggs in one basket, I contacted another broker -

the Dutchman Willem Tijssen.

He met me in a hotel in Copenhagen for a quick business lunch.

Did you have a nice flight? That's great.

- I didn't have to do it myself. - So it's a success already.

Tijssen represents a brokerage called Diplomatic Services.

He's the go-to guy for diplomatic positions -

- from the small, poor West African country Liberia -

- which has begun recovering after many years of civil war.

Willem says he works for a secretive, highly influential power broker -

- in African state affairs named Dr. Eastman.

I don't know exactly what he's doing. He has extremely big influence -

into heads of states.

How mysterious.

I really like the name Dr. Eastman. It has a spy thriller ring to it.

- A spy! Don't think he is a spy. - No, no, it's just the name.

He is very close to... You know, in the world -

- you have the underworld, the criminals -

- you have the upper world where we live, business people -

- and the back world, the people who are very influential -

- who actually most of the time pull the strings.

Tijssen was sure he could set me up as a Liberian diplomat to the CAR.

This would cost me $135,000, but the full package would also include -

- an honorary MBA from Monrovia University -

- as well as a Liberian driver's license.

We discussed all the opportunities I could have as an African diplomat.

You can travel with your suitcase with $10 million in cash.

I cannot do it. Nobody can.

But a consul or an ambassador can do that.

If you are going to do what I think you're going to do...

If you do it the way we will set you up to do it -

- you have a very high probability of success.

If you do it any other way -

- the best that you can hope for is to be arrested and go to jail -

- and lose everything you've got. That's the best you can hope for.

The worst you can hope for -

- is that you end up dead in a ditch in Africa.

I'm giving it to you on a plate.

As the name says, the CAR is situated in the middle of Africa.

It offers itself as a Jurassic Park -

- for people who long for Africa of the 1970s.

If the Congo was the heart of darkness, this is the appendix.

Some call it a failed state, but this would only be true -

- if there at some point had ever been a functioning state structure.

Instead there's a lawless territory the size of Texas -

- where a couple of thousand poorly equipped soldiers try to protect -

- the capital Bangui from the horrors of the wilderness.

Here, a small political elite spends most of its time -

- being involved in criminal activities -

- while waiting for the weekly flight to Paris, its former colonial master.

Of course, a country such as this works as a magnet -

on white men with hidden agendas.

- Wonderful, wonderful. - I'm a Liberian, Paul.

- So now you're a Liberian? - Yes, I'm a Liberian.

- You know how to struggle. - Yes, I've been working a lot on it.

Paul is my charge d'affaires in Bangui. He is a diplomat fixer.

We share a fascination with the former Central African tyrant -

- the cannibal Emperor Bokassa who went mad as a hatter.

Here we're touring the ruins of Bokassa's jungle castle.

Magnificent.

People in Europe think of Bokassa as an evil dictator -

but how is he to people here?

Bokassa as such is very humanist, because his first goal is -

- to develop the country. To save the area.

So he used force -

- to remove those who tried to make an obstacle.

He tried to put them away, so they say that he killed them.

So with this passport we can go to the Foreign Ministry to show it -

- and another department as diplomat.

In the diplomat world they say, if you're not at the table -

- you're on the menu. So we have to get to the table.

To the places where decisions are being made.

Because I don't want to be like an air guitar diplomat.

You've been working for the Chinese?

They're difficult to cooperate with. Very difficult.

Tell you what. I think there's a war going on between the West and China.

It's a cold war, but it is a war, and the front line is right here in Africa.

Because the Chinese are coming. They want all the minerals -

- the natural resources. They have no moral.

- They have no moral! Exactly! - Now my head is bursting with ideas.

I have so many ideas, so many visions.

We must work on the diamond mining.

A diplomat at heart, I wanted to get as many diamonds as possible.

Diamonds are a popular, secret side business amongst Bangui diplomats.

Some years ago the Spanish and Greek consuls were charged -

- with massive tax fraud with diamonds.

The Spanish consul had to flee at night assisted by the Italian consul.

Don't touch any weapons.

Don't touch any diamonds.

And don't touch the employees' women.

- Everything else goes. - That's the advice I need.

I wanted to follow in their footsteps with my business partner to be -

- Monsieur Dalkia Gilbert who came to my hotel late at night.

Also there to greet him was my secretary Maria.

M. Gilbert, an old, seasoned diamond miner -

- had been traveling for days from his mines to meet with me.

Like most of the diamond miners in Central Africa -

- he'd been close to bankruptcy after the collapse of the diamond market.

Another problem was his attachment with the former President Patasse.

He was removed after a coup by the current president, General Bozize.

Now Gilbert was busy sucking up to President Bozize -

- who had accepted him as a candidate for member of parliament.

Gilbert was looking for business angels from abroad and proposed -

- I should bring him a bulldozer to assist his men in the mines.

Now he can choose the one he likes.

When he tells me "I like that one," I will call Europe -

and it will be flown into Bangui.

Today, or when you choose a bulldozer -

M. Mads will call Europe.

M. Gilbert and I meet with the lawyer and make a contract.

Let's talk about the contract.

In two weeks, you can have millions of stones.

Because of the water. It has rained a lot this year.

- Understand? - No.

He says that the work with that mine is so far -

- that as soon as the water is gone, they'll dig out the bloody diamonds.

He needs about 10m CFA francs in cash.

That could get the diamonds out of the ground in a few weeks.

I tried to mine some, but I need... I met with some businessmen today...

I can meet with many others, but I trust you.

Many businessmen want to cooperate with him.

- Gentleman deal. - But he believes in you.

Thank you, M. Gilbert. Now it begins for real. Business for businessmen.

Of course, diplomats in Africa can not openly deal with diamonds.

My cover was a plan to open up a match factory in the CAR.

A brilliant business idea, since the country is so undeveloped and poor -

they even have to import eggs.

For this I brought in a match-making expert from India named Sumeet.

It's not very difficult when you take a matchbox construction...

A matchbox is very small -

- but the construction of a matchbox involves a lot of processes.

Making the splints, and then you make the outer box, the inner box -