NUGAN HAND STILL WANTED 10:58 pm May 26, 1991 Source: Peacenet (Fido:250/722) igc:wfry Conf: christic.news 'UNDEAD HAND' The following articles were published in the April 8 1991 issue of the Canberra Times in Australia, and are posted with the permission of the author. Responses to this, particularly further information on Hand's more recent activities would be highly appreciated. HAND STILL 'WANTED'. "NO EXTRADITION FOR HAND. Lack of interest in bank director 'astonishing'." By Rod Campbell. It seems almost certain that no-one in Australia will be seeking to have Michael Hand, one-time director of the failed Nugan Hand Bank extradited from the United States to face criminal charges. A warrant for Mr. Hand's arrest has been in existence for more than 10 years but it seems highly unlikely that it will ever be executed. ... The warrant alleges that Mr. hand and two other former Nugan Hand employees conspired to pervert the course of justice and breached the companies code. The allegations relate to alleged attempts to thwart a NSW Corporate Affairs Commission investigation of the collapse of the Nugan hand Bank in early 1980. Charges against Mr. Hand's alleged co-conspirators were dropped several years ago. It might, therefore, be difficult to obtain a conspiracy conviction against one person only (ie; Hand). It might be even harder to use the charge as justification for an expensive extradition application in the US. The remaining charges were brought under the Companies Code. The five year limit in which to bring proceedings has long since expired. It would appear, therefore, that without fresh charges being prepared, there is no legal basis upon which Mr. Hand could be extradited to Australia. ... ... Accordingly, Michael Jon Hand, 49, of Suite 327, 1075 Bellevue Way, NE Bellevue, Washington State, USA, is likely to remain a free man indefinitely. The Nugan Hand empire collapsed after the death of another director, Frank Nugan. Two coronial inquiries found that Nugan had committed sucicide, shooting himself as he sat in his Mercedes near Lithgow, NSW. Despite those findings, there are still those who believe he was murdered. Before his death, Nugan and his brother, Ken Nugan (who died in 1986), had been charged with defrauding their companies. Ken Nugan was gaoled later. The allegations undermined confidence in the group and are said to have led to Frank Nugan's suicide.The bank collapsed, millions of dollars in depositors' funds missing. The extent of the total deficiencies is unknown. They apparentlyu amounted to a few million dollars in the NSW -incorporated companies - "peanuts", as someone close to Nugan Hand investigations said last week. The losses elsewhere, particularly in Hong Kong, where the bank was formally based, were probably much larger. The bank was actually registered in the Cayman Islands. ... ... Mr. Hand does not appear to be on the active-investigation list of any Australian law-enforcement or regulatory body. The Canberra Times has approached several of these in the past 10 days but has been unable to find one that was particularly interested in locating Mr. Hand, let alone seeing him returned to Australia. ... [The author proceeds to list a score of the relevant agencies he has contacted, which includes a range of law enforcement agencies - State and Federal Police - government agencies, including Taxation and Attorney General, the Prime Minister's office, the liquidator of the Bank, and the Corporate Affairs Commission.] ... The overwhelming lack of interest in Mr. Hand is astonishing. For two years, between 1983 and 1985, Justice Donald Stewart investigated the group's activities. While his Royal commission ruled out any involvement in the CIA or in drugs and arms-running, it said the group had committed many breaches of foreign-exchange regulations, had been involved heavily in tax-evasion schemes, and had been involved in other fraudulent conduct under Commonwealth and NSW Company law. Justice Stewart did not say publicly who had been responsible for these offences. That section of his final report was suppressed. Despite the judge's findings, not a single person was charged. ------------------------------------------------ "MAN 'STAGGERED' BY FBI'S VISIT TO DISCUSS NUGAN HAND'S AFFAIRS" By Rod Campbell Despite the finding of the Stewart Royal Commission that the Nugan Hand Bank had had nothing to do with United States intelligence, the CIA and FBI took an extraordinary interest in the aftermath of the bank's collapse. The FBI sent an agent to Australia to talk to people involved in the investigation of the bank's affairs. One of those people told the Canberra Times that the agent questioned him about Michael Hand and his alleged CIA links. The then director of the CIA, William Colby, actually wrote to the person about Mr Hand and operation Phoenix investigations in the US involvement in the Irangate scandal. While detailed investigations of Nugan Hand's financial affairs failed to disclose any CIA links, the Canberra Times' informant said he had been "staggered" by: a conversation he had with police at the time; the Colby letter; and the FBI visit. he did not expand on the contents of the conversation with police. The man did not think Mr Hand had been a CIA agent during his time in Australia - although he had been a "hatchet-man" for it in South-East Asia in previous years - but had been trying to create an "aura" by suggesting an association. The CIA-FBI approaches after the bank's collapse had made him wonder if there was more to it. Doubts about the official finding that Nugan Hand had no links to the CIA is shared by Brian Toohey, editor of The Eye and a former editor of The National Times. In the most recent issue of The Eye, Toohey said Justice Stewart's findings had ignored the fact that in an interview with Australian police, the CIA's most famous 'dirty tricks' operative, Ted Shackley, had admitted freely that Mr Hand had worked for him in the CIA in Indochina. Toohey pointed out also that many key Nugan Hand figures had been shown later to have been involved deeply in the Irangate scandal, involving the sale of arms to Iran to finance contra rebels in Nicaragua.