Mireille Day

So the idea was for Hervé to go into the bank, sign the cheque, come back with the money and... In cash, like banknotes?

In cash.

Eight million francs?

Eight million francs.

It was 160,000 notes.

How did he even carry that?

I mean, just physically, that's a lot to lug around.

It was extremely difficult.

As Hervé found out when he tried to lug these two bags of cash, there were a number of glitches that...

made this perfect plan go wrong.

Elve had frequently gone to the bank and got cash, signed checks and got cash, and taken it back to the office for bribes.

It was a slush fund cash.

But this time, it was a significantly higher amount than normal.

It took a little bit longer to assemble, but it was put in the boot of his car.

And the bank manager...

said, oh, look, you know, I'll just escort you back to the office in my car to make sure you get back there OK because, you know, this is a larger amount of money than normal.

Someone might have seen us putting it in the boot, et cetera.

And of course, Hervé didn't want this because he wasn't going back to the bank.

He had a hire car waiting in another street.

He was trying to say to the bank manager, no, it's okay, I'll be fine.