Cagle said Soco had investigated the allegations as far as practically possible and had established that none of the death threats came from mobiles registered to the company. ‘In a country full of throwaway phones,’ he said, ‘I’m not sure how much further we can go.’ But the charges go well beyond intimidation. The film purports to show Major Feruzi offering Rodrigue Katembo, the warden of Virunga’s central sector, $3,000 to undermine de Merode and facilitate Soco’s operations. ‘You will get your share, and no one will know a thing,’ Feruzi laughs, unaware that Katembo is secretly recording the conversation. ‘They [Soco] need you. They know you are important in that sector where you can help us. They also know that you are the right hand of the park director. Do you understand? This means we’re buying you.’ At another point Feruzi introduces Katembo to his ‘boss’, Pieter Wright, Soco’s South African security adviser, who hands him an envelope containing $50 ‘just to say thank you’.