Nugan Hand Bank
 Nugan Hand Bank  (Fraud, Front)     | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 1973 |
| Founder | •  Francis John Nugan•  Michael Jon Hand |
| Extinction | 1980 |
| Interest of | Peter Abeles, Murray Riley |
Alfred W. McCoy and Sterling and Peggy Seagrave claim that Nugan Hand was totally CIA controlled (via Paul Helliwell), seeing it as part of a series of CIA-controlled banks, preceded by Castle Bank & Trust and succeeded by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI). They state that the bank was just small stepping stone for the CIA in laundering capital that started during World War II.[1][2]
Contents
Use of CIA Figureheads
The Nugan Hand Bank gained respectability by the recruitment of a number of retired senior U.S. military and intelligence personnel, such as former Rear Admiral Earl P. Yates as bank president and ex-CIA head William Colby as legal counsel.[3]
Business Operations
According to a former employee speaking in 1980, the bank paid commission of up to 2.5% on unsecured investments of $1m or more, when the going rate was around 0.25%. Together with related costs, the bank was paying over 12% to access funds.[4]
Fraud
the bank never became involved in traditional merchant banking activities like equity investment or mortgage financing; instead, its principals sought all manner of unconventional investment opportunities, including gun running and attempts to corner various commodities markets, such as Malaysian rubber and Indonesian oil.[4] Via its Cayman Islands subsidiary it also provided tax avoidance and evasion schemes.[4]
"The bank collapsed with debts in excess of $50 million and a subsequent royal commission found evidence of money-laundering, illegal tax avoidance schemes and widespread violations of banking laws. Over the years, the two words Nugan Hand became shorthand for drug-dealing, gun-running, organised crime and clandestine intelligence activities."[5] Michael Jon Hand went missing and no one connected with the Nugan Hand bank was convicted (maybe not even charged) of a crime.[citation needed]
Other activities
It has long been a subject of speculation that Nugan Hand played some part in the 1975 Australian coup which dismissed the Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam.
Establishment Inaction
In November 2015, Michael Jon Hand, described as "one of Australia’s most wanted fugitives" was found to be living in USA.[5] After a brief flurry of posts from the commercially-controlled media, they suddenly went quiet, prompting a WhoWhatWhy commentator to remark "And so it goes. Somewhere, Michael Hand must be smiling at how easy it is to get away with crimes when your employer is the CIA."[6]
References
- ↑ McCoy, Alfred W. (1991), The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Lawrence Hill Books, pp. 461–469
- ↑ Seagrave, Sterling; and Peggy Seagrave (2003), Gold Warriors: America's Secret Recovery of Yamashita's Gold, Verso, pp. 98, 148,
- ↑ Stewart, Don (2007). Recollections of an Unreasonable Man. Sydney: ABC Books. pp. 166–167, 171–172. ISBN 9780733318948.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ a b c Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 1980, Ambitious schemes never eventuated: Chase after an elusive 'big deal'
- ↑ a b http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/nugan-hand-bank-mystery-michael-hand-found-living-in-the-united-states-20151107-gkthas
- ↑ http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/12/01/australian-media-goes-silent-on-nugan-hand-bank/
