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involvement of former US Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, who was retained to investigate what had happened to (and also to recover) the missing funds. Asked if Bentsen "had the government's interest in closing this whole problem" and if he had "ever had a discussion" with Bentsen, Cocke replied: Many hours just trying to find out whether any agency, any group, Federal Reserve, Treasury, CIA, FBI, security agen- cies, and so forth, all of them put together, whether any of which would really like to finish. And, quite frankly, nobody stepped up to the plate. purpose. Those banking executives who caused the problem in the first place weren't confronted by their mistakes or held to account by their shareholders but, instead, continued to collect their million-dollar pay cheques, boost their bonus payments and profit shares, flick ash off their Cuban cigars, quaff bottles of expensive Cheval Blanc and slap each other on the back in delighted relief. One of those sighing relief was almost certainly Citibank's John Reed. Another one quite likely to have been cultivating a quiet exhalation was Hongkong and Shanghai Bank boss Sir William Purvis. Meanwhile, many investors who had placed their money into Project Hammer in return for an agreed profit, as well as all those middle-men who had worked hard for their promised commission, were relieved of their money in a twisted version of the well- known axiom, "One man's loss is another banker's gain". Cocke was then asked if "they would like to finish it", and he responded: I think they would like to finish it, but they all back away. It is not my cup of tea, or they have spent enough time with it and are not going to realize anything, and therefore they just quit. They don't confirm, they don't deny, they just stop. quit. They don't confirm, they don't deny, they just stop. STEALING FROM THIEVES The sanctioned purpose of Project Hammer was of a macro- One can conclude that the banks that diverted this money were — economic nature, which is a nice way of saying that it was all to too powerful for any agency of the US government to tackle. It do with "repatriating" the assets stolen earlier by someone else — also helped that suitable and substantial "incentives" were provid- except that when nations steal valuable assets during wartime, it's ed to former high-level Bush (Sr) Administration figures to bring called "plunder"; but when the victors in that war grab those same their influence to bear quietly to assets, they call it "recovery". ensure that action against the banks The assets in question were a vast was not taken. horde of gold and lesser quantities of Although not part of the sanc- platinum plus not inconsiderable tioned plan for Project Hammer— amounts of loose gemstones which which was to generate funds to pay had been grabbed by the Nazis and off debts on bullion certificates One can conclude that the the Japanese during World War II. A issued by certain metal trusts—the ° . large volume of this loot found its funds were siphoned off surrepti- banks that diverted this money way to the Philippines where it was tiously in order to rescue numerous | Were too powerful for any agency hidden in numerous treasure sites by major US and other banks that by the Japanese occupiers, who planned the latter half of the 1980s were tot- of the US government to tackle. to recover it after the war. tering on the brink of bankruptcy .* But it didn't quite work out the way The banks only had themselves to the Japanese had planned. They lost blame for their imminent collapse. the war, along with the Philippines— Reckless lending to Third World which, it seems, they had been fairly nations for over a decade or more, confident of being allowed to keep in combined with the raw greed of a negotiated truce with the Allies. senior bank executives, had caused unparalleled damage to the In their place, the OSS—the wartime forerunner of America's world's banking system. The inability of indebted Third World spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) —began recov- nations to repay their massive debts could have been—in fact, ering the bullion plundered from a dozen or so nations. This bul- was — foreseen, but was ignored. lion formed what became known as the "Black Eagle" fund, The spiral of gluttony had taken prisoner the faculty of pru- which was part of a secret agreement eclipsed behind the 1944 dence and reason as bank executives, seeking their next bonus and _—_ Bretton Woods Agreement. Consequently, the metal was placed promotion, pleaded with sovereign nations to take loans they did under the care of OSS (and later CIA) operative Severino Garcia not need and ultimately could not repay. Nor was it unusual for Santa Romana, who put it under the control of numerous corpo- some of the funds on loan to find their way into the private bank _rate entities he formed for the purpose. These entities, in turn, accounts of corrupt state officials—"diversions" that were known _ proceeded to establish 176 bank accounts in 42 different countries about in the boardrooms of the top banks, but ignored as "business in which to deposit these assets under private treaty agreement. as usual". Confirmation of this came from General Cocke, after this was By the end of the 1980s, big banks including Citibank, Chase put to him: "I have been advised that a chunk of the Hammer Manhattan, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation —_ Project funds that were used to trade, to invest and reinvest, came (HSBC), England's Midland Bank and many, many others were in from a large block of assets that CIA put into the bank dire straits. In all but name, they were bankrupt. The possibility [Citibank]." Cocke replied: "And they pulled that several times of a prolonged series of collapses of the world's top banks—a sort from several sources. Nobody is going to confirm it."* of "domino theory" of finance—was regarded in some quarters Santa Romana died in 1974, and following his death his former with palpable fear. The entire Western banking system was rock- attorney and trustee was able to "acquire" considerable portions of ing when it should have been rolling along nicely. Santa Romana's estate by illicit means. The lawyer was Somewhere, someone—nobody knows who (or at least no one Ferdinand Marcos, who went on to become President of the is saying)—took the decision to bail out the banks and save the _ Philippines and a favourite friend of the United States until his banking system by diverting Project Hammer funds for this overthrow in 1986. The acquisition of these assets helped give 34 ¢ NEXUS One can conclude that the WWW.NeXU smagazi ne.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003