Merchants of Menace

When Australian merchant banker, Frank Nugan, is found dead in mysterious circumstances on a country road, corporate investigators visit the bank and discover staff shredding the accounts.The Nugan Hand Bank's international branches soon collapse like a house of cards and Nugan's business partner, American war hero, Michael Hand, vanishes.The discovery of evidence linking the Nugan Hand Bank to drug traffickers and gun-running triggers the first of a dozen investigations.The investigators suspect that Hand is somehow involved with the CIA.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Nugan Hand bank opens branches across South East Asia and sets about employing former high-ranking US military and CIA officers to man them. Michael Hand also builds relationships with the Hong Kong Triads, Golden Triangle heroin traffickers and the CIA.Michael Hand also builds relationships with the Hong Kong Triads and Golden Triangle heroin traffickers. He then advises his executives that the Nugan Hand bank has become a paymaster for the CIA.But Frank Nugan's family, which owns a major fruit and transport firm in rural Australia, comes to the notice of authorities. An employee tells the Corporate Affairs Commission about cash cheques bearing the names of drug traffickers linked to the assassination of an anti-drugs campaigner. The Attorney General sets up a Corporate Affairs investigation into the Nugan family company.Soon after, the Narcotics Bureau learns that the Nugan Hand bank is money laundering for heroin traffickers and attempts to infiltrate the bank. A British intelligence officer offers the Narcotics Bureau a disturbing first-hand account of his own bizarre dealings with the bank.Frank Nugan brazenly confronts the Narcotics Bureau chiefs and has the investigation stopped. But Nugan's troubles aren't over. Nugan and his brother are arrested for fraud, causing a run on the bank.Frank Nugan is becoming a liability but promises Mike Hand that the fraud case will never get to court. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facing the possibility of going to prison for fraud, Frank Nugan offers big dollars to anyone who can compromise the Attorney General. Coincidentally or not, Mike Hand's army buddy and the bank's can-do man in Hong Kong, Doug Sapper, is approached to do a hit job in Sydney.Meanwhile, Hand is pushing deeper into the clandestine world, moving big money for the Shah of Iran and negotiating weapons sales. Fearful that the authorities are still watching the bank Nugan warns Hand and his military executives to cease such risky deals, despite his own staff still laundering money for drug dealers including the murderous Mr Asia syndicate.When a middleman between the Nugan Hand Bank and the Mr Asia syndicate is arrested, Narcotics Bureau investigators turn up at Nugan's office. That afternoon, Nugan calls his legal staff together and orders them to rid the bank of its illegal activities.This puts him at odds with Micheal Hand and his international executives, which now includes five former CIA officers and former CIA Director, William Colby, the bank's legal advisor.Frank soon finds himself dead. Is it murder or suicide?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following Nugan's death, Michael Hand disappears from Sydney. His lawyer fears he has been murdered. But Nugan Hand bank investigators discover he has flown out on a false passport in the company of a former CIA operative, codenamed 'Charlie'.Six months later, the story takes a stunning turn when Frank Nugan is allegedly seen 'alive' in the United States. Is it Nugan or someone else in his grave? The Attorney General orders an exhumation and a new inquest. Neither the CIA or the FBI want to assist the Australian investigators get to the bottom of the Nugan Hand bank's operations or help track down Mike Hand. The case becomes so political, the Australian government call a Royal Commission, which finds little in the way of new evidence regarding gun-running or a connection to the CIA. The original investigators brand it a coverup to protect the Australian-US alliance.The case is now so political, the Australian government call a Royal Commission, which finds little in the way of new evidence regarding the bank's involvement in gun-running and drug trafficking. It finds no connection to the CIA. The original investigators brand the Royal Commission a coverup to protect the Australian-US alliance.Three decades later, the author uncovers an intelligence document placing Hand, barely eighteen months after his disappearance, back working for the CIA in Honduras.The author then goes on the hunt for Michael Hand, whom he assumes has changed his identity. What he discovers becomes headline news around the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.