INTRIGUING TALE OF OIL TYCOON'S MACHINATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140037-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: September 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140037-9
Ai21' ,E FEARED_
ON PAGE: I -)
Intriguing Tale
Of Oil TyTcoon's
Machinations
A little-noticed item in the finan-
cial pages recently reported the pur-
chase of Tom Pappas' oil company,
Esso Pappas. by the Greek govern-
ment. There's a fascinating story
behind the $15 million deal.
Pappas was a major fund-raiser
and contributor for the 1968 cam-
paign of Richard M. Nixon and his
running mate, Spiro T. Agnew, who
was to become the highest elected
official of Greek American back-
ground. The Esso works in Greece
was just one of the multimillionaire's
holdings, which also included ship-
ping and soft drink companies.
The Pappas enterprises were al-
leged to be fronts for CIA operations
in Greece when the military junta
was in power. More serious were
charges that CIA funds found their
way through Pappas back to the
United States into the Nixon-Agnew
campaign fund. If Nixon got his
hands on U.S. Treasury money in-
directly through the CIA, it is a
scandal of first magnitude.
An investigation into the Nixon-
Pappas-CIA connection was begun
by the Senate Intelligence Commit-
tee in 1975. But it was dropped at
Washington Post
2 September 1983
the personal request of Henry A.
Kissinger, then secretary of state.
The money trail led from the CIA
to its Greek counterpart, the KYP,
then to Pappas and back to the
United States and into the Nixon-
Agnew campaign. Pappas vehement-
ly denied the charges, which had
come from Elias Demetracopoulos, a
respected Greek journalist who had
fled his homeland after the junta
took over in 1967.
A few weeks before the 1968 elec-
tion, Demetracopoulos took his
charges to Lawrence O'Brien, then
chairman of the Democratic Nation-
al Committee. O'Brien issued a press
release demanding that Nixon and
Agnew explain their relationship to
Pappas, but it drew little attention
in the final days of the campaign.
It is conceivable that if the truth
about Nixon's secret funding by the
CIA had come out he might have
lost the extremely close election to
Hubert H. Humphrey. As things
turned out, though, the Greek exile
leader's charges may have played an
unwitting part in Nixon's ultimate
downfall. Here's how:
In 1971 Demetracopoulos laid his
explosive charges before a House
Foreign Affairs subcommittee, and
was asked to submit details in a
memorandum. Before he could do
so, Nixon's longtime adviser, Murray
Chotiner, told Demetracopoulos:
"Lay off Pappas. It's not smart pol-
itics. You know Tom Pappas is a :
friend of the president."
Then Attorney General John N-.
Mitchell got into the act. At a party
he confronted a Republican friend of
the Greek journalist, Louise Gore,-
then ambassador to UNESCO. She
wrote Demetracopoulos that Mitch-
ell "is furious at you-and your tes=
timony against Pappas. He kept,
threatening to have you deported.". I
Demetracopoulos submitted his ;
memo to the House subcommittee
anyway, disclosing that he had doe,
umentary evidence to support his ,
charges. The White House was ob
viously worried about Demetracb, `I
poulos' evidence-and, according to
competent sources, that may have
been one reason the Watergate bur,
glary was authorized. Nixon wanted ,'
to know what ammunition Deme-
tracopoulos had supplied to the
Democrats. .
The "smoking gun" in the Greek
connection eventually was provided
by the late Henry Tasca in 1976 tes-.
timony to the House Intelligence
Committee. Tasca previously had
been U.S. ambassador to Greece,
and his sworn testimony was kept
secret at his insistence. He con-
firmed the funneling of money from
the Greek junta to the Nixon cam-
paign.
Footnote: Nixon, Kissinger and
Pappas were either unavailable or
refused to comment.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/04/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100140037-9