NUGAN HAND AIDED U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707330003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: August 16, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000707330003-0
ON PAGE 2LL
Nu an Hand Aided U.S.
The latest study
193 pa
es conce
,
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, By JONATHAN KH?trr suspicions that Nugan Hand was tied to
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL U.S. intelligence. Those suspicions arose in
WASHINGTON - The scandal-ridden part because Nugan Hand's top ranks con-
Nugan Hand international banking group tamed many former high-ranking U.S. tnfl-
paricipated in at least two U.S. govern- itary and CIA officials.
ment covert action operations, and had The report avoids final conclusions, and
stronger links to the U.S. intelligence com- offers summary statements on each side of
munity than was previously known. the issue. On the one hand, it says that "it
That picture emerges from a report by the Task Force view that Nugan Hand
the Australian government based on its was an entity unto itself, operated and con-
three-year investigation into the affairs of trolled by the financial desires" of its oper-
?Nugan Hand, and from more recent report- ators. It says that "for the most part the
trig by this newspaper, following three arti- U.S. personnel to whom greatest suspicion
cles on the subject a year ago. has been attached by the media and others
The Australian government report, re- ... were connected with the group for a
leased to Parliament in March, contains relatively short time only prior to Its col-
eVVidence that the banking group's execu- -lapse in 1980." And it says that "if the CIA
ttves were involved in a large weapons or any -other.intelligence organization had
shipment to U.S. intelligence aided forces intended to use Nugan Hand as a cover for
fighting a guerrilla war in Angola, and it covert operations, It was a clumsy attempt
the sale-of an electronic spy ship to-Iran by '; and one would-bave-expected a more pro-
the t?_s. Office of Naval Intelligence. in fessional effort from an intelligence orga-
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The report says that retired Rear Adm. ` `Serious Disquiet' agent in southeast Asia. Mr. Hand fled
Earl P. Yates, then president of the Nugan On the other hand, the report says, i Austraha In 1980 and his whereabouts
Hand Bank, urged a Central Intelligence "there are a number of matters that give aren't known.
Agency contract agent to threaten Haitian rise to serious disquiet . . . resulting from The report says Mr. Hand was smug-
President Jean Claude Duvalier with an the relationship that some of the Nugan gled out of Australia a by another former
overthrow in 1979 as part of a bank prof Hand group ...had with persons of U.S: CIA operative, James Oswald Spencer,
ect. (Adm. Yates declined to be inter- intelligence background." And it says, "At whom investigators found in Arizona It
viewed, but said in a written statement says Mr. Spencer, who couldn't be located
that the overthrow threat wasn't proposed intrinsic pa times oart of links the appear then ongoing havengoing been an activity by this newspaper, -declined to answer
part
by him, but by a prospective bank client. most questions but said he last saw Mr.
and have the appearance of the -direct in- Hand "several ago" He said he quickly rejected the idea. The volvement of the U.S. intelligence commu- years and that Mr.
reported CIA contract agent agrees with ultt,., Hand "was In the CIA" at the time.
this.) The bottom line is that a new Australian Both cases of Nugan Hand participation
New Connection With CIA task force has been appointed, with Australians ainvolve covEdwin uncovered by the
And the dramatis personae listed in the broader powers, to delve further into Nu- son wa CIA fwin Wilson. Mr. 71,
Australian report as "individuals whose gan Hand for at least the next year. There awas
then a undercover fcover rom nf N9a
w
background is relevant to a proper under- are also hints of prosecutions, because the and a agent for r Navy
standing of the activities of the Nugan report says large sections were withheld Task Force 155, a secret operation in-
companies
Hand group and people associated with from public release because of active law tended to spy on ocean traffic world-wide that croup" includes names newly con- enforcement investigations. through up as a shipping front. His and career trading has since be-
nected with Nugan Hand-including that of The report complains that the U.S. in- set come infamous, and he has been convicted
Theodore Shackley, the former No. 2 in telligence community refused to supply sales to Libya.
command of the CIA's clandestine services help or information for Australian investi- twice CIA Contacts of illegal
After arms sales
branch. (Mr. Shackley declined to be inter- gators. It indicates that the investigators 1976
viewed, but his attorney says Mr. Shackley think some witnesses interviewed in the Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, then head of
was "formally advised" by an Australian U.S. might have lied, but that the Austra- Naval Intelligence and later deputy direc.
detective who helped compile the report bans lacked the means to compel truthful- tor of the CIA, has said he fired Mr. Wilson
that he wasn't suspected of any illegali- Hess. in April 1976 for improper business activi-
ties.) Lawrence Barcella, an assistant U.S. ties. He has said that Task Force 157 was
The Australian Government report is Attorney in Washington who has prose- disbanded,in 1977 due to'budget cuts, al.
the fourth volume from a task force that cuted former U.S. spies for illegal activi- though many think the looming Wilson
began studying Nugan Hand because of its ties, says he and the FBI did arrange in- scandal was the real reason. The new Aus-
extensive dealings with international her- terviews for the Australians. Commenting tralian Government report suggests that
oin syndicates. on the report, he said, "We are trying to Mr. Wilson dealt closely with high-ranking
Those dealings, and a wide picture of determine whether there is any violation of CIA officials during his Navy work and
business fraud victimizing Americans and U.S. law or within the purview of U.S. ju- even after 1976.
nationals of many other counties, were risdiction, and thus tar we haven't found The first covert action case documented
cvotrhed in previous volumes. anything." in the report involves Mr. Hand's stay in
South Africa from December 1974 to March
1976.
CQ! T1WU.ED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000707330003-0