My friend Marina Roganovic took a promotion from administering a private school for diplomats children in Montenegro to running one for the same organisation in Turkmenistan, a country that can make North Korea look like your local cat cafe. It’s not a country that one breaks local law carelessly.
You see, there is a very active currency black market in Turkmenistan. Turkmen currency, the Manat, was pegged at 3.4913 TMT to $1. Black market rate at that time was 4.5 TMT to $1.
Bill suggested he takes $1000, exchange the money on the black market, give the school 3500 TMT, and we would pocket the rest. He would do this will all of the dollars we needed to convert – and by the end of the three year project, he said we could make a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
When I reported him to [the US-based bosses], I was told that, instead of investigating their dear friend, [they] made a decision that I will be the one to break this law in Turkmenistan. The school will be the beneficiary of the illegal currency exchange.
Let me paint a picture here – a 15 year old Turkmen exchanged $100 on the black market. His whole family went to jail for seven years.
Earlier: Hockey Night in Turkmenistan by Roganovic’s husband, Brian Salmi