The Mask Of Integrity

Mr. Obinna Kalu stammered as if he had food in his mouth.

“No, sir, I did my absolute best for the company. I believe firmly in the principles of hard work and industriousness, and I demonstrated these values while I was in charge of the company…”

One of the immaculately suited executives sitting across the table from the perplexed figure of the CEO of the company brought his hands down on the table so it made a light clapping sound, and Mr. Kalu’s mouth was shut. Mr. Kalu brought out a white handkerchief from his pockets and wiped his forehead of the lakes of sweat that dripped continuously.

The executive, Mr. Victor Abel, had an icy look on his face. He might have been a judge in court about to give sentence on a murder case.

“There’s no need for all that,” he said. His pose looked as though he were a stone figure but for the movement of his facial features. “We’ve conducted a thorough investigation, including months of audits, intercepted emails, and testimonies from your other employees at the company, and we’ve decided you’re going to be relieved of your position as the CEO of this company.”

Mr. Kalu made to speak, but Mr. Richard Henry, another figure at the table, waved him down.

“Our decision is unanimous and final. Good day, Mr. Kalu.”

Mr. Kalu stood trembling; it felt as if his legs were made of melting ice, and for a second or two, he was afraid this was how everything he had built would get eroded. He left the room without another word.

The next day at the office, when the humbled former CEO came by to get his things, he felt as if the stares of his previous employees punched holes in him. Ada and Joy, sitting side by side at tables, exchanged glances. When Mr. Kalu had gone, they talked about the man's hypocrisy, how he'd treated them badly, forced them to meet impossible deadlines, and some who failed to do that were dismissed from their jobs.

They talked of how he was often expecting more and more of them, no matter how much effort they put in. Compliments rarely came from his lips, but rebukes did, like water from a dam; the rebukes were often sharp, hard, and humiliating ones. And he always emphasized the importance of hard work.

Now the earth had been turned over, and the corpses rotting underneath now suffocated the air with unbearable odor. Mr. Kalu, who had seemed a saint, a man of values and unshakable principles, had had all his hidden atrocities come to light. In fact, most of the work he gave out to his subordinates were ones he was supposed to attend to. He barely checked some of them, just signed them off with reckless confidence.

He spent most of the days at the office drinking, staring at a screen, calling random friends. Added to that, the money he removed from the salaries of his subordinates for their alleged misbehavior he appropriated to himself. With that, he was funding a very lavish lifestyle, which included luxury cars, foreign trips, and a penthouse no one at the office knew about.

It was one of the owners of the company who saw his lavish lifestyle and deduced that his salary couldn’t have afforded him that, and he set about to make inquiries, and with that, all the dead fishes floated.

It was his subordinate who had gotten the worst of Mr. Kalu’s inappropriate behaviors that replaced him. It later came to light that Kalu had only gotten that position because one of his relations, who previously sat on its board, recommended him for the position, even with the knowledge of his nephew’s incompetence.

Kalu had previously failed at heading two companies. One later filed for bankruptcy. But he got the positions because he was a conman, and his connections with people in high places also helped.

In fact, Kalu never had a degree; he was expelled in his final year at college after a serious scandal, which was later dismissed after the money found the right hands. He was a genius, and he was charming, and with these two, he talked his way to the top.

This revelation came as a rude shock to many who had known Mr. Kalu as a respectable public figure. During the court session, various of his fraudulent escapades came to light. In one instance, he had gotten a contract worth millions from the government of Norway under an alias and then absconded with the money; months later, he resurfaced with a new, fresh identity.

He became immediately wanted by the governments of up to five countries; his name quickly circulated across international watchlists. He was even a personal friend of some popular politicians of his country. This case of professional hypocrisy was especially shocking to everyone who heard of it.

The company not only dismissed Mr. Kalu but sued him. It wasn’t a very difficult case for the judge; he sentenced Kalu to 25 years in prison, but not before all his ill-gotten properties were confiscated and used to compensate the company and many others he’d defrauded.

All images generated with Gemini AI.

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