were not counterfeit as such, but real—although unauthorized—Bank of Portugal bills. Although the issuing of unauthorised banknotes went undetected, the attempts by Reis and his partners to make good their fictitious obligations to Angola attracted attention for other reasons. The Portuguese had long suspected the German government of coveting their Angola colony. The prominent role of Hennies in the bank and Reis' triumphal return to Angola caused suspicion because of Hennies's well-established relationship with Germany's espionage apparatus during World War I. The acquisition of large tracts of plantation land by Angola and Metropole alarmed Alfredo de Silva, who controlled Portugal's market in vegetable oils. De Silva's friend and business associate Pereira da Rosa (who himself sat on the boards of banks that had been losing business to the Angola & Metropole) owned O Século (Portuguese for "The Century"), the most important daily newspaper at the time and one that was concerned at the prospect of a deep-pocketed owner for the competing Diário de Notícias. The newspaper assigned its top reporters to dig into the bank and Reis, beginning a campaign of aspersion and innuendo. Journalists asked how it was possible that Reis's bank, Banco de Angola e Metrópole, gave loans with low interest rates without the need of receiving deposits. It was implied that the bank was a German front aimed at infiltrating the country and gaining control of the Angolan colony. The campaign, filled with insinuation and calls for investigation, made public the fact that the Inspector of Banking Commerce had opened an investigation shortly before the newspaper's crusade began. The inspector's inquiry was into the attempts by people associated with the Angola & Metropole to buy up shares of the Bank of Portugal. The revelation of the effort added fuel to the dark suspicions that then hung around the Angola & Metropole and its backers. On 4 December 1925, a teller for a money-changer in Porto who had been following all the allegations and revelations in the press suddenly had a flash of insight and became convinced that the Angola & Metropole must be counterfeiting. The teller had an advantage on other observers; his employer was one of Reis' half-unwitting launderers. The Angola & Metropole illegally bought foreign exchange from him at a premium (money exchange was illegal in Portugal at the time, but in fact widespread and tolerated). The ledgers of these transactions were then torn out