Sez a Kindly Contributor: I replied to their letter and here is their reply back to me (2nd letter).

STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL/URGENT (yeah, yeah, yeah...)

Goodday to you, I hope this letter meets you in good health. Thank you very much for your positive reply to our letter of mutually benefiting business proposal. We the three members of the Contract Review Panel (CRP) have deliberated extensively on your response and unanimously agreed to commence this transaction with you. It is pertinent at this stage to assure you that this project will be carried out strictly and religiously within all laid down procedures and the transaction will also pass through all local and International laws and regulations which you are going to see as we progress in the successful realization of this transaction. Just like you said, it looks a bit out of the ordinary, but it's true.

Before letting you into the full picture, it is important to inform you that, as the Chairman of the Contract Review Panel, I am also the secretary of the Nigerian Propaganda Committee. You must be informed not to be confused by the numerous propaganda, which my committee is pushing into your country for some time now. All the propaganda is aimed at discouraging foreign nationals like you from assisting Nigerians in transferring of money out of the country. The propaganda is all over your Radios, National Dailies, Banks, and International Courier Services as you may have seen. So you must not let it influence your decision.

There is a "Claims Form" of the Federal Ministry Works and Housing that is required of you to complete with your company details and fax back to me immediately, but the file is too large to be sent as an attachment, immediately after sending you this mail, I will send the form to your fax number as soon as you make it available. If you encounter any difficulty completing the form, do not hesistate to call for assistance from me. Bank details are not necessary if your prefered mode of payment is by Bank draft.

On receipt of the above requirement we shall commence all pre-application processes including the Incorporation of your company at the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and the registration of the company with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMW&H) as a category "C" contractor who has legal rights to execute contracts of such magnitude in Nigeria. The above two registrations will cost US$25,000 and US$42,720 respectively. We shall also obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate in the name of your company indicating that your company has paid company tax for three years amounting to US$30,000 as this is a pre-requisite for all category "C" contractors in Nigeria. We have made arrangements for all these initial expenses. We will also meet all equity requirements for the operation of a foreign company as spelt out by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Immediately these pre-application requirements are met, we will legally sub-contract the contract entitlement of US$26,426M to your company making it legal and then the CRP of which I am the Chairman will validate the claim and the application proper will be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Works & Housing (FMW&H) for the approval for payment of the contract entitlement in the name of your company. All these are directly under my supervision. Immediately the approval is given by the FMW&H, your company becomes a legal creditor/beneficiary of the FMW&H to the tune of the contract amount and your payment file will be moved to the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) for the Foreign Exchange Approval Order to be issued by the Exchange Control Division of the FMF. This is necessary since the payment is not in our local currency (Naira) but in a foreign currency (U.S Dollars). From the Exchange Control Division, your payment file will be moved to the endorsement (signing) stage of the Fund Release Documents i.e. (1) The Foreign Payment Order, (2) International Payment Receipt (3) International Payment Voucher.

At this point you will be expected to come personally to Lagos [ no, no, no! ] to endorse the Fund Release Documents, witness the telegraphic transfer of the funds to you account and re-confirm your Bank particulars if necessary or alternative payment through Bank Draft. But if for reasons of tight business schedule you cannot come to Lagos, you have a choice of retaining the services of a local accredited Attorney registered with the FMF to perform the endorsement on your behalf. Also in privileged circumstances, your Fund Release Documents can be endorsed in any of the Debt Reconciliation Committee (DRC) offices in Europe, or Asia. For any option chosen 48-72hours after the endorsement of your Fund Release Documents, your funds will hit your account by telegraphic transfer, or you can receive a Bank Draft drawable in any correspondence Bank of the Central Bank of Nigeria worldwide, or you can also make application for cash payment in Lagos or in any of the DRC offices. Let me know the option most suitable to you.

The above is our master plan for success, which is 100% risk and hitch free and everything will be done legally and perfectly. Note that to safeguard our common interest, a legally binding agreement will be entered into between us showing that the funds moving to your account are contractual sums and also a vetting approval will be issued by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation vetting the funds against drugs and fraud sources. With your unwavering assistance and co-operation and following our instructions religiously, this transaction will be concluded within 10-14 working days. On receipt of the funds in your account, my associates and I will fly to your country and meet with you for the sharing purpose and to commence our business plans. As we cannot bring back cash into Nigeria, we will count on your business acumen and network for our investment plans.

The benefits are enormous so are the responsibilities. I therefore urge you to keep a sincere inventory of all expenses including telephone bills just as we keep ours for reimbursement on receipt of the funds in your account. Once again I thank you for your prompt positive response and remember that confidentiality is our watchword, as the advantages accruable to us from strict compliance can never be over emphasized.

I have to use this opprtunity to warn you about a problem we have presently in our telephone exchange, when you call me, your call might be intercepted by another person who might say he is me, so what you must do is this, we are going to nick name this transaction, so anytime you call me, you must always ask me WHO IS RICHARD and I must reply OLORI. When you ask this question and the person does not answer you properly or correctly, you must hang up the phone immediately and dial again to get through to me directly. I have been able to secure a new fax number that enjoys all the confidentiality that this our mutually benefitting transaction requires, the number is 234 1 759 0927, and when you are sending me a fax, after you dial the number, you will hear a voice prompt, which says, 'this is the mail box of 759 0927 if you want to send a fax, press send on your fax machine' if you do not hear this, please do not send the fax, or else the fax will go somewhere else. Take this warning very seriously.

Best regards.
N.B. Endeavor to reach me immediately after you peruse this mail, so that we can discuss verbally and for you to be privy to prompt information as they unfold as our international dialing facility is not efficient. The telephones in Nigeria are sometimes very difficult to get through, but if you are persistent you will definitely get through. A transaction of this magnitude requires us to speak to each other often. I will be expecting your call.

Your account details are not necessary if your prefared mode of payment is by Bank draft. But if you prefer direct telegraphic transfer, then you can fill in your Bank particulars.

Fax the claims form back to me immediately on completion, so that I can commence with the registrations.

There will be 15 seconds of darkness in the Brooklyn Tunnel.... a man will approach and say "give me an egg cream, please" and you must answer "I have no egg creams"...