From: newzbuzz@centurytel.net
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Subject: The Secret Gold Treaty2.4-3.1
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:29:34 -0800
The Secret Gold Treaty
PART 2.4
THE BORMANN–PERON-KRUPP-MARCOS CONNECTION
Also intriguing is the close connection between Baron Krupp and Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, who escaped post-war Germany via the Vatican ratlines to Argentina after languishing for a few years in Italy.
The problem was that the existing law interfered with his desire. He told Bormann that he wished the firm to pass on to his eldest son, Alfried, regarded as a "devout Nazi and SS man." [i] In exchange for Hitler's agreeing to modify the law to permit Krupp's request, Bormann extracted an agreement whereby Krupp assigned a portion of his vast assets, in secret, to the Nazi Party under Bormann's control. Consequently, a new law was passed on 12 November 1943 permitting a "Lex Krupp." Pleased with the agreement, Hitler lavished profitable contracts on him, making Krupphaus the "most prosperous cog in the industrial war-machine."
Evita Peron was, in fact, part of the Freude syndicate handling the vast stash of Nazi loot that was regularly being shipped to Argentina for deposit in four banks chosen by Freude. These banks were the Banco Aleman, the Banco Aleman Transatlantico, the Banco Germanico and the Banco Tornquist. In each case the gold, silver, gemstones and other treasure were deposited to accounts in the same name – that of Senorita Eva Duarte. Four individuals implicitly trusted by Bormann had joint control over all the deposits – a procedure designed to ensure that personal greed was checked before it could take root.
It is, therefore, of considerable interest to learn that in the summer of 1947 – when negotiations between Bormann and Juan Peron were in full flow – Evita chose to make a "good-will" trip to Europe, travelling to Lisbon, Madrid, Geneva, Paris, Zurich, Lucerne and Rome, where, according to Ladislas Farago, negotiations with Bormann were finally steeled. [ii] She also visited a less well known Spanish city – Avila -- that lies to the west of Madrid.
Of interest, Dona de Avila shared the same middle name "Trinidad" as Imelda Marcos's mother – Remedios Trinidad Romualdez, known to intimates as "Medy." Whether this is happenstance or indicates that the heirs of this fortune are related to Imelda Marcos, I do not know. I do know that both Marcos's preferred to use close confidantes and family as "cut-outs" whenever possible.
The Peron connection to Bormann gold provides yet another twist. In early 1973 – the year Peron returned to power in Argentina -- 400 tonnes of gold belonging to Peron was put on sale in the black market. Worth £700 million, it almost equalled the entirety of the Bank of England's official gold reserves. In any event, the sale of Peron's 400 tonnes of gold was code-named "Bormann 1345," creating a suspicion that it might have originated as one of Bormann's 1,800 odd "shipments" of loot to Argentina (a figure mentioned by both Tom Bower and Ladislas Farago). In any event, the Spanish government was tutor for this bullion and was required to sanction the sale that was being offered by a Chilean businessman living in Madrid. The transfer agent was, according to author, Robert Hutchison, Professor Vincenzo de Nardo – described as an "Inspector-General with the Italian Finance Ministry," who stated that his involvement was private but conceded that the transactions was of a "political nature." [iv]
Throughout his long sojourn in South America, Bormann generally felt safe from being identified and, indeed, safe from capture. His life revolved around administering the ever growing mass of Nazi funds that long ago had been artfully invested. However, in November 1972, London's Daily Express newspaper broke a series of articles showing that Bormann had escaped retribution and was living in South America. Bormann was, in fact, living in some comfort in a huge hacienda in Chile when the story broke, causing a worldwide sensation.
With Bormann's consent, a conference was held Santiago, Chile beginning 22 December 1972 and lasting until Christmas Eve. The meeting was carefully monitored and kept under 24- hour human and electronic surveillance by Chile's secret police special bureau. Finally, after two days of intense meetings, control over Bormann's assets moved into the hands of Captain von Gerstein. According to author Paul Manning in his book Martin Bormann – Nazi in Exile, Bormann's assets are now administered by a "leadership group of twenty" younger men who oversee investment strategy in the form a board of directors, chaired by Bormann.
One additional interesting fact was Bormann's return from Chile – where he had fled following the downfall of Juan Peron in 1955 -- back to Buenos Aires in 1966 and 1967. His visits were timed to coincide with meetings of a shadowy group committed to building a reinvigorated worldwide movement of Third World nations patterned on the Third Reich. This was to be the successor to Hitler's New Order with a focus on a coalition of anti-communist right-wing forces. One of the aims of the secretive group was "the seizure of total power in Argentina" together with a plan leading to the "ideological conquest of Latin America." These aims were to be pressed forward in "collaboration" with the "chiefs of national Socialism in Germany and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church." [viii]
It was Montini who headed the Vatican-run "Ratlines" engaged in smuggling wanted war criminals, members of the SS and other Nazis on the run to safety in Latin America, the Middle East and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the shadowy anti-communist group that wished to induct Bormann into its circle as a notional figurehead to aid it with the task of "building a reinvigorated world-wide movement of Third World nations patterned on the Third Reich," was the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) that was chaired by US CIA operative, John Singlaub. He entered our story earlier as a leading member of the Philippine gold-hunting Nippon Star group.
Interestingly, Kodama was one of those who, in 1954, founded the Asian Peoples Anti-Communist League. Kodama, along with his Yakuza compatriot and war-criminal cellmate, Ryoichi Sasakawa, ruled Japan with an iron fist artfully concealed in the gloved hand of political puppets. Sasakawa, in particular, boasted of a close, personal friendship with Ferdinand Marcos "long before he became president." Author Sterling Seagrave believes their friendship arose during "the Quirino presidency at the end of the 1940's when Marcos and other Quirino lieutenants were busy trying to discover" where Japanese plunder had been buried in the Philippines. Sasakawa was also deeply involved with the CIA, especially during the CIA sponsored anti-Sukarno campaign of the of the 1950's when he was in charge of supplying "materials to the anti-Sukarno camp." [x]
If there was one thing that connected the individual members of this odd group, it was their shared fascist beliefs and backgrounds that resulted in another common denominator -- all became immensely wealthy.
Meanwhile, the stated objective of Hitler's New Order / Vatican- backed coalition group mentioned earlier was simple – "A New World" based on Nazi ideals. The group had major bases in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Iran, Taiwan, Japan, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela, according to a report passed to Coordinacion Federal – Argentina's secret service. This report additionally stated that funding for the organisation was provided from "hidden treasure of the Third Reich on deposit in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Paris, Monaco, Lucerne and Zurich," as well as from a US$500 million sum available through "Group Peron" and other revenue "derived from dividends paid by Mercedes-Benz of Stuttgart" on investments placed there by this so-called "Sacred Movement." It was a case of Nazi loot used to fund the European anti-communist movement and Japanese loot funding the Asian Anti-Communist League.
Bormann's role in the Fourth Reich group was little more than as an honorific figurehead. His induction into the "Sacred Movement" was scheduled for a meeting in Buenos Aires in the form of an "initiation" ceremony along Masonic lines. It is almost certain that this group was also an appendage of the secretive Italian Masonic Lodge, Propaganda Due (P2) that is known to have had deep and powerful connections in Latin America – especially Argentina. In any event, the Masonic "ceremony" proved a fiasco, with Bormann storming out in impatience. [xi]
It is of more than passing interest to learn that Singlaub's Nippon Star venture also had ultra right-wing motives in its search for World War II plunder. According to Bob Curtis, who had earlier worked with Ferdinand Marcos following his development of a technique that would alter the metallurgical finger-print of gold (obviously of immense use to Marcos, who had recovered tens of thousands of tonnes of war plunder), Singlaub and others involved with Nippon Star had an ultra right-wing agenda.
Curtis, who had earlier escaped Marcos's clutches fearing for his life, fled with detailed photographs of all 172 maps made by the Japanese Golden Lily. These showed where each hoard of plunder had been buried and how much each trove was worth. Years later he was given the bulk of Ferdinand Marcos's personal archives by Marcos's mistress. These, Curtis said, totalled over 60,000 documents. Because of his possession of the Golden Lily treasure maps and his earlier involvement with Marcos, Curtis was invited to become involved with Singlaub and other members of Nippon Star in their recovery venture.
Curtis travelled to Hong Kong, where he was briefed over a three-day period by the CIA. Included in these briefing were details of a very sensitive transaction between Marcos and Manuel Noriega that involved gold for drugs. [xii] Not least, Curtis speaks of a number of transactions that involved Madame Pineda – who was an intermediary for Imelda Marcos (and who regularly features in Peter Johnston's correspondence in my keeping). On Pineda, Curtis had this to say: "When I learn how to scan and attach files, I'll send you some goodies on Pineda, which is mind boggling. It involves the son of an ex-US president." [xiii] This may well be a reference to George W. Bush, who is rumoured by other sources to be involved in black market gold deals.
Not least, Curtis told me that he held many details of Krupp deals other than the one I was already privy to and added that the "Krupp involvement is deeper than you think. Several transactions were for a trillion dollars" [my emphasis]. [xiv] Curtis also revealed that: "The China Mandate is a real earth shaker. 200,000 metric tons, negotiated with Nixon and Mao. The purpose: to keep China out of any Asian expansion for 50 years. The fear that America had over China's crossing the border in Korea was that China would invade Formosa and the Philippines, leading to a nuclear war. This document could get you killed, so could the Trilateral document that I referred to earlier."[xv]
Curtis also had some notes written by hand by Edward Lansdale, who he says typifies an "early player and mover" and who was also involved in the China deal. The Trilateral Commission reference, Curtis told me, regards a letter (in the possession of Curtis) that was sent to President Marcos on Trilateral notepaper – on the authority of Dr. Henry Kissinger – demanding that Marcos sell "63, 321 tons of gold to 2000 US and European banks admittedly controlled by the Trilateral." This letter was dated 21 February 1986. Curtis adds that the last sentence of the 12 page letter states: "Release the 62,321 metric tons of gold now, while your are in a solid possession and right and you alone can do it and alone can claim immortal glory as the greatest man in Asia."
According to Curtis, it was Marcos's refusal that led to his loss of power three days later. The gold that Marcos refused to sell – in exchange for US Treasury certificates and some cash -- was eventually shipped to the US aboard the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "President Eisenhower," having been later "released" by Imelda Marcos, who was avoiding pursuit for criminal charges when she fled the Philippines with her husband. Curtis notes that President Reagan wanted the gold for the "Rainbow Dollars" that had already been printed and that Reagan planned to back with gold. What is interesting here is a news article that appeared in the Philippine Enquirer where 96 members of the 51st Army Engineering Brigade operating in total secrecy under President Marcos state in an affidavit that they recovered 60,000 tons of gold during the Marcos years. This article is reproduced in the Appendices. Not least Curtis states that other players involved in Marcos gold over the years have included the Club of Rome and also the Tavistock Institute. [xvi]
Curtis's claims will undoubtedly be seen by some as too conspiratorial and extravagant to be worth taking seriously. However, it is as well to know that Curtis has passed muster with a number of investigative journalists and authors, including, among others, columnist Jack Anderson and Sterling Seagrave.
This was all very interesting to me simply because in addition to his activities with the Secret Treaty gold certificate negotiations, Peter Johnston was also involved with Imelda Marcos on other bullion transactions. One of these involved a vast transfer of money authorised by the last remaining heir of the Krupp family fortune, Baron Arndt Krupp von Bohlen & Halbach. Dated 4 November 1985, a letter issued on the Baron's private letterhead – and bearing his signature – authorised Krupphausen attorney Carl Letermeyer to effect payment to Clem. T. Santiago of Manila, Philippines of the equivalent of "one percent (1%) from profits of Krupphausen in 1980 up to 1985 now on deposit at Volksbank Willislav AG, Switzerland." [xvii]
However, complication beset the transaction, not least the death of Baron Krupp. As late as January 1988, Carl Letermeyer wrote to Clem T. Santiago at the Krupp Heritage & World Peace Foundation in Singapore enclosing a summary of figures covering the five-year period stated in the Baron's November 1985 authorisation. The sums involved are almost unbelievable, and for this reason I recommend a careful study of Sterling Seagrave's 1999 book The Yamato Dynasty (Bantam Press) – especially the footnotes on pages 354/5. In any event, the transfer sum due to Santiago at the Krupp Foundation – and representing 1% of profits over a five-year period -- totalled US$112 billion. [xviii]
Seagrave's intriguing and well researched book reveals the true story of the origin of Marcos gold that resulted from immense Japanese plunder throughout Southeast Asia World War II. The bulk of it – totalling 172 treasure troves – was buried on and around the Philippine islands prior to the war's end. One site referenced by Seagrave, and audited by Japanese accountants, contained a staggering Yen777 billion. The dollar-yen exchange rate was almost four yen to the dollar, giving an equivalent in 1945 US currency of $194 billion. Nor can it be argued that Seagrave is exaggerating. Documents in my own possession amply confirm what he says. The foregoing facts corroborate Seagrave's thesis that numerous wealthy individuals possessing right-wing sympathies aided and abetted the OSS/CIA by laundering plundered Japanese gold, gemstones and other booty. In fact, the OSS began recovering the loot from one Philippine 777 site commencing in 1945 and efforts have continued, more or less, up to the present.
Directly related to the foregoing are other equally interesting facts. Allen Dulles, together with former New York Governor Thomas Dewey, owned a large shareholding in Mary Carter Paint Company, a firm reputed to be a CIA front and owned by leading Mafia financier, Meyer Lansky. This company, later renamed Resorts International, caused a flurry of press interest when it was discovered it had made a 1968 contribution of $100,000 to the Nixon presidential campaign fund in the form of thirty-three cheques for $3,000 and one for $1,000.
Richard Nixon was, of course, Vice President during the Eisenhower Administration, which spanned the years 1952-1960. In 1971, Nixon closed the gold window, thus removing gold as a backing for the US dollar. In time, the mobbed-up Resorts International would demonstrate links to Castle Bank in the Bahamas – a CIA front company founded by veteran OSS and CIA bagman, Paul Helliwell. Castle Bank would later, in turn, reveal close connections to Wall Street's junk bond investment bank, Drexel Burnham & Lambert – thus squaring the then- hazy but now- clear circle of associations among the CIA, the Mob, Wall Street and government.
Meanwhile, it is of additional interest to note that the Bahamas-based Paradise Island Bridge Company was principally owned by Swiss and German investors, including the director of a BASF subsidiary company. BASF is, of course, the largest single successor firm of I.G. Farben. In any event, the company was highlighted throughout the Watergate years due to allegations that it had been laundering "skim money" (possibly from the joint Mob/ CIA- owned Paradise Island Casino or, perhaps, from World War II plunder recovered by the CIA?) for eventual payment to then President Nixon via his confidant, Bebe Rebozo. Allegations surrounding an amount of $200,000 paid to Nixon's camp was made by an IRS informant. [xix] Nixon and his top henchmen in the White House were so pro-Nazi that it began to sour relations with Israel.
Crime boss Meyer Lansky had a controlling interest in the Swiss -registered and -based International Credit Bank through his henchmen Tibor Rosenbaum and John Pullman. Customers of the bank included the State of Israel, the Rothschild family and, not least, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
Bernhard was born a German prince who married a Dutch queen and became an honorary member of the SS before joining the intelligence arm of I. G. Farben -- which later became an indispensable spook asset of the Third Reich. When war broke out, Bernhard quit his German associations and joined the RAF, which, delighted to have this blue-blood aboard, gave him his own battle squadron. Post-war, he closely associated himself with both American and British intelligence and took bribes from American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corporation. This latter episode was during his chairmanship of the Bilderberg group – forcing his resignation -- and at about the same time that he opened an account in Meyer Lansky's private Swiss bank for landed financiers, princes, Mafiosi and casino gentry. Few, surely, can list these manifold and genteel credits on their vitae. The words "for sale" and "highest bidder" inevitably spring to mind.
Footnotes
[i] Ladislas Farago, Aftermath (New York : Simon & Schuster, 1974) at 222-5.
[iii] Ibid at 203. This treasure also included 3,500 ounces of platinum, 4,638 carats in diamonds and others precious stones and an assortment of gold marks, pound sterling, dollars and Swiss francs.
[iv] Robert Hutchison, Their Kingdom Come (New York, St. Martin's Press,1997) at 211.
[vii] Paul Manning, – Martin Bormann – Nazi in Exile (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1981) at 282.
[ix] John Loftus and Mark Aarons at 83-84.
[xvi] Personal correspondence with this writer. These claims have also proved impossible to corroborate thus far. However, I believe them to be worthy of inclusion with the understanding that they are unverified. I also think it worth noting that when researching his book, Marcos Dynasty, author Sterling Seagrave arranged for investigative reporter Don Goldberg to spend a few days reviewing thousands of Marcos documents in the possession of Curtis and concluded, based on Goldberg's reports, he was telling the truth.
[xvii] See the "Krupp Letter" in the Appendices.
[xviii] Copy of fax of original letter in this writer's possession.
[xix] From an unpublished manuscript by Peter Dale Scott.
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The Secret Gold Treaty
PART 3.1
THE SECRET TEAM
Meanwhile, the involvement of Nazis in the assassination of JFK has been spelled out by the indefatigable Mae Brussel in a lengthy essay published on 22 November 1983 in The Rebel magazine. This insightful essay is available via Virginia McCullough, who has formed a detailed archive of Mae Brussel's important work, at www.newsmakingnews.com.
On 18 November 1963, just four days before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Argentine government issued a Special Order No. CF-S01365 O.J.P., which initiated the only period in Argentina's recent history when Nazi fugitives were in jeopardy. This resulted in the formation of special Nazi-hunting squads of Argentine secret police.
Until then and, in fact, also soon after this brief and curious interlude, any and all Nazis on the run – including the so called "Gran Fugitivos" (Grand Fugitives) like Bormann, Mengele, Gestapo Heinrich Muller and others -- were more protected in Argentina than in any other country in the world. Is it possible that the government of Argentina, because of its deep and abiding connections with Nazis, learned of the forthcoming "hit" on JFK? Could the curious and dramatic (but not long lasting) anti-Nazi action have been little more than a PR exercise to exonerate themselves in advance of their closeness to certain Nazis associated with the Kennedy death, which members knew would result in a major worldwide news story of unparalleled proportions?
One individual knowledgeable about group "forty" is L. Fletcher Prouty, who was Chief of Special Operations (i.e., clandestine activities) for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. His duties involved the military support of the clandestine activities of the CIA. Prouty was the real life representation of Mr. X, played by Donald Sutherland in Oliver Stone's movie JFK. Prouty resigned his commission following the assassination of President John Kennedy and later wrote an enormously powerful book titled The Secret Team, which sheds a tremendous amount of light on the secret activities of the CIA and Pentagon during the early years of the Cold War.
The 5412 Committee, which met in Room 40 at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, became the de facto parallel government of the United States, a fact that was later acknowledged by President Eisenhower in his speech regarding the dangers of the "military industrial complex." At the heart of the US secret government lay a doctrine that was "driven by the twin goals of reinforcing the private interests that largely control the state and maintaining an international environment in which they can prosper." [ii] The broader interests of the people are not permitted to enter the equation, which is reserved entirely for men of wealth and power. The Dulles brothers fit into this subterranean power complex with considerable ease.
Prouty says this of the 5412 Committee:
"As time passed and as the DCI [of the CIA] exploited his position, it might have seemed to be rather reasonable to suggest the establishment of a small special group to take this 'burden' from these senior officials and to provide men who could more readily attend to such matters, minor as they were, in the place of the busy Council principals. Thus the establishment of the first Special Group.
"As things progressed, the Special Group 5412/2 became not just the working group of the NSC but rather a select group that had assumed the responsibility for clandestine activity. Certainly, each designated Special Group member reported back to his principal but by that time it was not so much for direction as it was for 'informational approval;' in the language of bureaucracy this meant, 'if he doesn't say a clear NO, it's O.K.'"
"By that time in the course of events a new process had evolved and the DCI felt perfectly at liberty to prepare all the clandestine operations his intelligence sources would support and to present them to the Special Group for nothing more than approval. But even this was not enough. The next step was to have Agency-affiliated men in the Special Group itself, or at least to have them working with the Group as special advisers. This is why the President's appointee has always been so important to the DCI. Since the appointment of Maxwell Taylor in that position after the Bay of Pigs, the DCI has had men in that position whom he could count upon as a two-way conduit. When the DCI wanted to get information to the President he would use this man and when he wanted the President's approval on something, he would use him for that too. The same has been true with the representatives in State and Defense. During much of the crucial build-up years in Indochina, men such as Bill Bundy and Ed Lansdale have represented State and Defense on this committee. Of course, both of these men were CIA alumni and as a result the DCI could always count upon them to grease the way for any of his proposals to the NSC."
"This has been a significant evolution away from the language and the intent of the law. It has meant that the sole authority established as a final resort to oversee and control the CIA has become no more than a rubber stamp for all clandestine operations. And throughout all of this the ST [Secret Team] has been able to carry out its desires under a cloak of secrecy that has kept its moves shielded from the highest officials of this Government. For example, in those crucial early years of Vietnam, did McNamara and Rusk look upon Lansdale and Bill Bundy as Defense and State men under their command and control, or did they recognize them as CIA agents under the direction of the DCI? Or when the Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities from the Joint Staff was called to the White House, did President Kennedy and others look upon this man, General Krulak, as a member of the military establishment because he was wearing a uniform, or did they recognize him as a key spokesman for the interests and activities of the CIA?"
"This shift of command control over the Agency from under the direction of the NSC was undoubtedly as important a move as has occurred in any part of the Government since the passage of the National Security Act of 1947. It explains why the CIA has operated so free of effective and ironclad control during the past ten to twelve years."
Fletcher Prouty also recounts in The Secret Team his personal encounters with then Major General Edward G. Lansdale, who became McNamara's special assistant for all matters involving the CIA and special operations. Earlier in his career, Lansdale had been a key operative for the 5412 Committee and, as I outlined earlier, possessed absolute knowledge of the vast quantities of gold bullion buried in the Philippine islands by the Japanese treasure teams known as the Golden Lily. Under Lansdale's direction, Severino Garcia Romano commenced recovery of gold bullion and other plundered loot beginning in 1945.
Whether the true facts regarding the Secret Treaty are ever released for historians to review remains questionable. My own view is that from a Cold War perspective there is little on this subject that requires ongoing secrecy. However, from a financial perspective there is much that demands obscurity. The staggering amounts of funds then and now available to the national security powers of the United States as a consequence of secretive Philippine plunder recovery efforts remains as sensitive as ever. Who actually has control of these sums? I doubt that the US government, per se, is in control of them, but believe rather that a network of private concerns holds the power.
Likewise, the full story of the nature of gold has yet to be told, and my guess is that it will remain hermetically sealed amongst the few for a very long time to come. Two things are certain, however. The historical official mining figures for gold are patently false and have been knowingly fabricated and thrust on an unsuspecting public. Second, and leading on from this, it is, therefore, evident that gold is not at all rare. Current statistics show above- ground stocks of the metal to total about 140,000 metric tonnes. The reality is far, far higher and, in all probability, is well in excess of one million tonnes. I doubt anyone really knows for certain, owing to the fact that so much is still buried in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia that tallying it all up is impossible – even to this day.
A brief mention needs to be made of Carmel Offie, a State Department flunky and contemporary of the Dulles brothers, Frank Wisner and others intimately involved with the machinations of the Secret Team. Later believed to be a KGB "plant" by the FBI's Edgar Hoover.[iii] Offie's career began to follow a downward trajectory, but not before Hoover had raised serious questions concerning the source of his income. Employed on a mid-level government salary, Offie had dollars to burn around Washington.
The CIA's first DCI, Beedel Smith, tried to placate Hoover by saying that Offie had received a "pay-off" of $10,000 for taking the blame when several people in Paris had almost been caught abusing their diplomatic pouch privileges. Hoover added that one of those involved in the pouch affair might have been General Lucius Clay, formerly the Governor of the US Zone in post-war Germany and a member of the Board of Directors of Newmont Mining, one of the leading gold mining companies. [iv] According to Hoover, Offie was "either given or allowed to buy at a very favourable option price some stock in the Newmont holdings in North Africa, which gave a fabulous payoff…" thereby making Offie "semi-independent." [v]
Is it possible that Newmont Mining might have acted with or on behalf of those members of the OSS/CIA/Secret Team engaged in recovering gold bullion from the Philippine treasure troves, by re-smelting (in effect, laundering) war loot? The connection between Newmont Mining and Philippine gold stores is, of course, very tenuous. However, this story is all about tenuous connections that become increasingly firmer as more facts emerge from the shadows.
That being so, another fact that has emerged from the shadows is the location of one of Newmont's offices up country in Thailand at Chang Mai. This city sits slap in the middle of the Golden Triangle opium region and was chosen by the CIA-Mafia owned and Australian domiciled Nugan Hand Bank for a branch office because of this proximity. In addition to laundering drug money on behalf of its owners, the CIA, Nugan Hand Bank is believed to have been heavily involved in the transfer of large quantities of so-called "Marcos" gold flown by CIA pilots from Clark AFB in the Philippines to the secret US Pine Gap facility located at Alice Springs, Australia. It is, therefore, of some interest that Michael Hand, the joint founder of Nugan Hand Bank, was at one time one of five aids to General Edward Lansdale. [vi]
Historically suspicious of paper money, Southeast Asian warlords -- amongst other Asian peoples – have always preferred payment for goods and services in gold and silver. General Khun Sa, (but born Chiang Chi-Fu) was, as warlord of the Shan States of Burma, known as the "biggest heroin dealer in the world," [vii] because, as leader of the Shan States, he was in control of most of the Golden Triangle. A two-part feature article I wrote in 1997, titled "Deep Black" provides an insight to this subject.
The foregoing suggests the strong probability that plundered gold hidden in the Philippines by the Japanese Golden Lily teams later found its way to the Golden Triangle to be exchanged for opium, thanks to the efforts of the Nugan Hand Bank and the CIA. Such a gold laundering scenario would have made a great deal of sense, because sale of stores of this magnitude on the open market would have certainly forced the world price lower, thereby causing acute visibility. Exchanging gold in secrecy for Chinese heroin that would later be sold in Europe and the US at many thousands' percent profit over purchase cost can only have represented a most appealing financial strategy to those devoid of principles and ethics.
The Cold War was not so cold as it was profitable and profits increasingly became the name of the game. This process received a considerable fillip when President Richard Nixon disconnected gold from the US currency in 1971. Eliminating the gold standard would soon lead to the long-planned global hegemony of the Almighty Dollar, which unofficially became a narcotics-backed currency. Along the way, oil shocks would be witnessed, odd goings-on at the Department of Treasury would come to light and Wall Street investment banks would learn ever more ingenious ways to engineer ever greater profits at their whim. As usual, the taxpayer generally picked up the tab.
Footnotes
[i] I am grateful to Mr. J.P. Viken, who provided this information.
[ii] Cited by Noam Chomsky in his book Deterring Democracy – available free in electronic form on www.ZNET.com (Chapter One: "Cold War Fact and Fancy").
[iii] See Hersh, Burton, The Old Boys, (New York: Scribners, 1992) at 448.
[iv] Clay was the predecessor of John McCloy and the man in charge when substantial quantities of Nazi gold went missing from the Reichsbank vaults. For a detailed telling of the Nazi Gold Robbery, see Sayer, Ian and Botting, Douglas, Nazi Gold (London: Mainstream Publishing, 1998).
[vi] This interesting tidbit provided courtesy of Kris Millegan.
[vii] Kwitny, Jonathan, The Crimes of Patriots (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) at 228.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/secretgoldtreaty/secret_treaty_part%203.1.htm
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