| -Caveat Lector-
http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/investigative/case1.asp The Nugan Hand Bank He's a former Vietnam U.S Green Beret soldier. He won a Silver Star, a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross - second only to the Congressional Medal of Honour as the U.S's highest military award. On June 9, 1965 he almost singlehandedly held off a 14-hour long Vietcong attack on the Special Forces compound at Dong Xaoi. He went on to become a contract agent for the CIA in Vietnam and Laos. He also ran Australia's dirtiest and most crooked private bank, the Nugan Hand Bank, which he co-founded with Australian, Frank Nugan in 1973 - a bank that strong evidence suggests was used by the CIA to finance a covert war in Indochina, and that had associations with known drug traffickers. Many suspect they were knowingly washing the profits of drugs and arms sales as a sanitary front for CIA-sanctioned operations. One former Nugan Hand director has stated on oath that Hand warned Bank executives: "If we didn't do what we were told, and things weren't handled properly, our wives would be cut into pieces and put in boxes and sent back to us." Hand's also on the run from Australian investigators who still want to talk to him about fraud, drugs money and the CIA connections with his obscure Sydney-based Nugan Hand Bank. We'd like to know where he is - Are you on the net Mike? We'd like an interview? Give us a call! According to top US journalist Jonathan Kwitny, whose book "The Crimes of Patriots" (Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-671-66637-1) is the definitive text on the subject, Michael Hand fled Australia under a false identity on June 14, 1980 on a flight to Fiji. He was helped to escape by an American code-named "Charlie" - a man subsequently revealed to be James Oswald Spencer, a former member of the US Special Forces and ex-CIA operative. In 1991, top Australian journalist Brian Toohey reported in his 'The Eye' magazine that Hand had a postal drop at Suite 327, 1075 Bellevue Way, NE Bellevue, Washington State. Michael Hand's wife Helen was apparently living with him in Washington State. Not surprisingly he's since moved on. Do you know where he is? In 1987, Jonathan Kwitny prepared a list of questions about the Nugan Hand affair for the US Senate Intelligence Committee when the Contra scandal was being investigated by both the Senate and the Congress. The questions formed the basis for closed door testimony the committee took from then CIA director William Casey. The answers have remained a secret. In the interest of truth, click here to read some of those questions all of us would like answered. The Questions Whose Answers are Secret 1- What were the dates of Michael Hand's employment by any U.S intelligence agency, whether on permanent or contract or other ad hoc assignment, & what was his work? 2- Did any U.S intelligence agency ever have a relationship with Bernie Houghton? What was the nature & duration of this? 3- Did the CIA ever have a relationship with Franck Nugan? What was the nature & duration of this? 4- How & when did Bernie Houghton meet Admiral Yates? Did Houghton have letters of recommendation from Admiral Yates & other high-ranking U.S military officers when he arrived in Australia in 1967 and how did this come about? 5- Colonel Allan Parks, U.S Air Force (ret.), has said that while serving undercover for U.S intelligence as an official of the U.S embassy in Vientiane, Laos, in the 1960s, he became aware that Bernie Houghton was generally known to be transporting contraband like drugs & gambling devices in SE Asia, along with surplus military equipment & other goods. Colonel Parks has said that Houghton's movements were frequently recorded on cable traffic he saw at the embassy & that General Aderholt was also aware of it. What did the U.S intelligence agencies do with their information/records on Houghton? 6- Houghton was primary caterer to the social needs of U.S servicemen on R&R in Sydney. This period overlapped several years when Houghton was a critical factor in the operation of Nugan Hand, though not yet an officer of it - were there records kept of his relationship with U.S officials? If so, what do they reflect & what use has been made of them? 7- What was the nature & duration of the CIA's relationship with Kermit L. "Bud" King, former American pilot? Does any U.S Government agency have a file on King's mysterious death during his business association with Michael Hand? If so, does it - or any other intelligence file - reveal participation by Hand in any illegal activities, including but limited to bringing drugs out of Asia? 8- Does any U.S intelligence or law enforcement agency have a record of any drug transactions that Hand or Houghton carried on with people from the Asian mainland, including Khun Sa, the military leader from the Shan States of Burma? Were U.S military and intelligence officers who dealt with Hand before & after their retirement informed of this? 9- When did U.S intelligence agencies first become aware Nugan Hand was soliciting large deposits in violation of the foreign exchange controls laws of many countries? That it was moving money for illegal drug dealers? That it was soliciting deposits from U.S citizens in Saudi Arabia & elsewhere & U.S servicemen? 10- Why was Michael Hand allowed to keep his U.S passport after accepted Australian citizenship? 11- Why were the Australian visa problems of Houghton, a U.S citizen, in February 1972 solved by the intervention of a top official (Leo Carter) of ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation)? 12- . Do cable traffic or other records provide evidence to support charges, made by Christoper Boyce & several officials of the Australian Labor Party, and by others, that the U.S involved itself in Australian domestic political or labor activities, or provided covert impetus for the removal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam from office in 1975? 13- Did any U.S intelligence agency ever have a relationship with, or arrange for money to paid to or on behalf of, former Australian Governor John Kerr? If so, please provide details. Did any representative of the U.S Government communicate directly or indirectly with Kerr in the week prior to his dismissal of Gough Whitlam? 14- Was Bernie Houghton given access to U.S military transport at Richmond Air Base and why? 15- Was there any official relationship, on contract or otherwise, between Houghton and the former Australian CIA station chiefs Walker & Wonus? 16- After Hand's tour of duty in Laos with the CIA, did he at any time return to the U.S for further training or briefing by any U.S intelligence agency? Did Houghton even get such training/briefing? 17- During Hand's time in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Panama did he have contact with anyone in any U.S intelligence agency? 18- Did any employee or contract agent of a U.S intelligence agency ever use Nugan Hand Bank or Joe Judge to finance arms deals in southen Africa or elsewhere? 19- What was the nature & duration of any relationship between Hand or Houghton & Theodore Shackley before Shackley left the CIA? 20- When & how did any U.S intelligence agency become aware of a relationship between Thomas Clines, Ricardo Chavez & anyone associated with Nugan Hand, particularly Houghton? When & how did any U.S agency become aware that Clines went to Australia when Nugan Hand failed, and left Australia with Houghton? 21- Has any U.S intelligence agency been in contact with Hand since he left Australia in June 1980? When, how & what happened? 22- When was the last contact that a U.S intelligence agency had with Houghton? What happened and how? 23- Did Naval Task Force 157 ever have representatives in Australia? Who were they & what did they do? Was Edmin Wilson ever one of them? 24- Did U.S intelligence attempt to warn anyone working for Nugan Hand or any customers of Nugan Hand concerning what it knew about the people involved? Who was warned & what was the nature & content of the warnings? 25- Why were the FBI's files on Nugan Hand withheld from disclosure, even to Australian law enforcement authorities, on the grounds that they would endanger U.S "national defense or foreign policy"? 26- To whom & at what Australian government agency, does the FBI say it disclosed all its information on Nugan Hand? 27- Has any U.S intelligence agency ever had dealings with Donald Beazley? With George Shaw or his relatives in Lebanon? With Clive "Les" Collings, Nugan Hand's Hong Kong rep? With Wilfred Gregory, Nugan Hand's Philippine rep? With John Needham, co-founder of Nugan Hand? With George Farris, Nugan Hand's Washington rep? With the Wing-On Bank, Nugan Hand's Hong Kong Bankers? With Inter-Alpha group, which handled international accounts for Nugan Hand? Elisabeth Thompson, Nugan Hand's lawyers? Neil Scrimgeour, a Nugan Hand confidant in Western Australia? If you know the answers to any of these questions or have any information on Michael Hand (Do you know where he is?) or the Nugan Hand Bank saga then e-mail me. Hot tips in plain brown envelopes are much appreciated too. Address them to: Ross Coulthart, Reporter Sunday Program, Nine Network Australia P.O Box 27,Willoughby, NSW 2068 Australia Tel: (61.2) 9965 2470 Fax: (61.2) 9965 2487 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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