SELDOM, if ever, does a book make banner headlines in the international press and feature prime viewing tIme on the main channels of British television. Author Jorge Jardim may be justly proud that this book did. In this sense, the success of Sanctions Double Cross is remarkable. Indeed, some headlines in the British newspapers could themselves have provided him with a fascinating list of alternative titles for his book: "How The West Beat Sanctions" (The Daily Telegraph); "Oil Chiefs Bust Sanctions" (The Observer) .. "Sanctions Firms Misled Minister" (The Guardian).. "Sanctions Busters' Secrets Revealed" (New Statesman). But the most gratifying accolade for which the Author could ever have hoped came from none other than the respected Queen's Counsel, Mr. Thomas Bingham, appointed by Her Majesty's Government to investigate allegations of sanctions evasion by British oil companies. After a flattering acknowledgement of Jardim's contribution to the official inquiry and frequent quotations from this book, Mr. Bingham says in his report: This allegation rests on documents produced and information given by Mr. Jorge Jardim who. particularly in the period before UDI and until about 1968, was a figure of very great power and influence in Mozambique: He was until July 1968 the Managing Director of SONAREP, but his power and influence depended not on this position, still less on any official appointment (for he held none), but on the fact that he was and was known to be the trusted confidant and emissary of Dr. Salazar. We were told that Mr. Jardim was more . powerful in Mozambique than the Governor-General, and everything that we have seen and heard leads us to accept that this was so. (Page 33, Chapter IV, Section 4.3 of the Bingham Report). A book on sanctions-busting, mostly based on documentary evidence, could have made dull reading. But Jorge Jardim has proved to be a skilled raconteur. Nothing is missing in the plot of this book which sometimes gives the impression of pure fiction.

 

 

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