the undercover (real estate??) agent Pt.1
I don’t know how it escaped me, but he looked ordinary enough. Came with his wife and 2 young girls looking to buy an apartment near to the children’s school. They liked the place and made an offer to buy, but with one condition, he wanted to move in immediately after signing the sale and purchase agreement ( only 10% paid), which meant he was willing to pay a rent and move in (for few months) pending the full settlement of the balance purchase price (90%).
Normally, I would advise the owner to decline as it would be messy if the buyer does not make good on his contractual obligations, and already had possession of the apartment unit. But she was desperate to sell and keen to accommodate.
So we penned the deal and they moved in.
The problem came after the first month.
He didn’t make the rent and it didn’t look like he was going to make second or third month (rent) either, and neither the bank loan (lawyer said he didn’t move on the bank loan). So I got a desperate call from the owner as she was now in a bind. After several phone calls and some pleading on behalf of the owner… he finally agreed to pay the owner the rental which was several thousand Rms. I was to meet him on behalf of the owner.
But he kept delaying.
Out of the blue, he called to say he had the money with him; I was with 2 other estate agent friends at that time, and so together we drove down to meet him. The meeting point was in front of a police station in KL on a deserted street off Jln Hang Tuah.
(where our ex-DPM Anwar Ibrahim was assaulted in lock up, the infamous black eye incident compliments of the Inspector General Police)
After waiting 10 mins in a parked car within earshot to the police station, we saw him. I had NOT expected him to come out from the police station, so was clearly surprised he exited from it’s gate, lit a cigarette and made a quick scan around. He spotted me quickly as I exited the car to meet him. Slipped me 2 bundles of notes wrapped in a rubber band. He had a friend with him who gave me a look over as I counted the money and they scanned the street.
I felt like I was doing a drug transaction and money changing hands.
When I got back into the car, my friends who were waiting for me fell silent as they did not like what they had seen in the two men. X had a look about him that made them uncomfortable and nervous.( real estate agents have a good eye for irregularities)
For some reason, up to that point, I was oblivious of how X looked, but as I eye him (walk away) in my rear mirror, I could see why they said what they did. There was something menacing about X demeanor I hadn’t noticed before. I guess my first impression of him with his wife and 2 girls seemed decent enough, but now he looked different.
There was something ruthless about him, ..
.. . like he could have just participated in a ‘lock up’ bashing.
As we piece the story of how I met him, and the little news I knew of him leading to the circumstances of this meeting, we had a strong persuasion he was probably working with the police, maybe undercover or a police informer . . . and probably (was) just getting paid for some ‘dealings’ with them.
There was quiet as we pondered his role in the police station..
I passed the money to the owner and I was quite relieved that that would be the end of my dealings with X.
I really didn’t want to have meet with him anymore.
But as fate would have it, our paths will cross again. . .
(.. few weeks later, my lawyer informed me, he paid the balance 90% amount in cash!)
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