The Nugan Hand Bank
The Questions Whose Answers are Secret
- 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?
- Did any U.S intelligence agency ever have a relationship with Bernie Houghton? What was the nature & duration of this?
- Did the CIA ever have a relationship with Franck Nugan? What was the nature & duration of this?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- Why was Michael Hand allowed to keep his U.S passport after accepted Australian citizenship?
- 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)?
- . 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?
- 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?
- Was Bernie Houghton given access to U.S military transport at Richmond Air Base and why?
- Was there any official relationship, on contract or otherwise, between Houghton and the former Australian CIA station chiefs Walker & Wonus?
- 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?
- During Hand’s time in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Panama did he have contact with anyone in any U.S intelligence agency?
- 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?
- What was the nature & duration of any relationship between Hand or Houghton & Theodore Shackley before Shackley left the CIA?
- 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?
- Has any U.S intelligence agency been in contact with Hand since he left Australia in June 1980? When, how & what happened?
- When was the last contact that a U.S intelligence agency had with Houghton? What happened and how?
- Did Naval Task Force 157 ever have representatives in Australia? Who were they & what did they do? Was Edmin Wilson ever one of them?
- 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?
- 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”?
- To whom & at what Australian government agency, does the FBI say it disclosed all its information on Nugan Hand?
- 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
