On May 4th (2006), the Prince graced M-Base with his presence at martini time and I got down to the nitty-gritty.
“Rarely in life does one find a black and white situation,” I began. “But we have one here. Jean-Luc Allavena is doing a great job, implementing your program. Proust is trying to play you against your own chef de cabinet, even leaking to VSD magazine that people are calling JLA ‘Albert the Third’ because Proust believes it will turn you against him. The knives come out for JLA every weekend. Proust tries to undercut JLA’s authority by seeing you at weekends when JLA is home in Paris with his family—and then twists the facts against JLA to get you to nod and agree so he can return to his office and convince himself and his staff that he has your approval. Proust does not want to relinquish the power that belongs constitutionally to the Palace, and JLA is your enforcer in for that. He needs your support. Proust,” I added, “is impeding all progress. You must get rid of him.”
Albert nodded. The same nod most people interpret as obtaining his tacit approval.
Then I produced the Bosna Bank letter—the smoking gun the Prince requested several months earlier: A fax implicating Philippe Narmino in a dirty deal.
“What?” Albert adjusted his spectacles and studied it closely.
This single, profound document seemed to make an impact.
“You’ve got to clean out the government,” I said quietly.
“What about the French?” the Prince asked.
“That’s part of the problem. According to our spy, LIDDY, the French already know about this. That’s another reason you must get rid of them: The French know—and they know you know, which makes you look weak in their eyes. Until the fundamentals are right, no progress can be made.”
USA Today
As part of Operation Scribe, I’d met with Jeff Stinson, the London-based foreign correspondent for USA Today. On deep background, I outlined a highly positive story on how the Prince meant business cracking down on dirty money in Monaco. The concept, as Albert and I had discussed, was to spook the bad guys through positive PR. Stinson had expressed interest. As any good reporter, he would have to fly down to investigate the situation for himself. The Prince agreed to being interviewed. Then he had to leave. Michael Smurfit expected Albert aboard his yacht along with his aide-de-camp Bruno Philipponnat—and a new Russian they wanted him to meet.
“Probably one of Bruno’s business deals,” I commented.
The Prince grimaced. “It’s a problem.” (But not enough of a problem to take a pass, apparently.)
We discussed the Bosna Bank fax and agreed that Philippe Narmino must go.
“Paris will applaud you,” I said.
“But they’re corrupt in Paris.” Albert said this robotically, as if somebody had planted that very phrase in his mind. (Was this, ultimately, a defense for permitting corruption in Monaco after announcing to the world the introduction of a new ethic?)
“And they’re corrupt all along the Mediterranean,” I said. “But we’re trying to do something different here. Aren’t we?”
Silence.
On May 10th, I drove Jeff Stinson from USA Today up to the Palace.
First: A superb interview with the chef de cabinet. JLA, focused and clear, humbly deferred to the Prince’s authority and leadership. He talked about “improving intelligence” and “expanding international contacts” and “pay-as-you-go taxation” rather than tax avoidance. Stinson was extremely impressed by JLA.
Second: Up the narrow winding stairway to Albert’s office. Pressure and stress had taken a toll on the Prince and his mood was dark as he gave a stumbling, halting interview, deferring to me to prompt him on the many points we desired to convey. And when Stinson wanted to take his photograph—for an article that would probably be the best PR since his investiture—Albert turned testy and refused.
Late that evening JLA phoned me. He was extremely concerned that his interview with USA Today should not overshadow that given by the Prince. He wanted the reporter to know that Albert was in command—something that might not have seemed obvious to Stinson. I assured him that Stinson’s focus was the Prince.
Next day JLA and I met with Paul Masseron and I briefed the new interior minister on our intelligence service. I explained how we had been collecting and analyzing intelligence for four years, ready to act against several targets, dossiers I would provide him with presently. Masseron appeared satisfied with the arrangement and gave me his mobile phone number and e-mail address for future contact.
After Masseron left, JLA and I spoke privately. I had traced the fax number on the Bosna Bank letter. It led directly to Philippe Narmino’s office fax number at Palais de Justice. JLA was astounded.
JLA told me that he was supposed to have attended the post-North Pole Vladimir Putin state dinner at the Kremlin for the Prince. But aide-de-camp Bruno Philipponnat eased JLA out of the trip by saying it would be a “one-on-one” meeting, which proved false. I speculate that Philipponnat did not want JLA around to witness his close contact with the Russians.
Speaking of which, after meeting Bruno’s “Russian” aboard Michael Smurfit’s yacht, the Prince had a new requirement for our service: Find out about Chalva “Chig” Pavlovitch Tchigirinski.
It did not take long. Our service, going on almost four years, had become ultra-slick by now.
Tchigirinski was a Russian with Israeli citizenship—a crook, but not as dirty as many of the others coming in from Russia. He was aligned with Mayor Luzhkov of Moscow, at odds with Putin. Chig had a real estate background. He owned President Mobuto’s old villa on Cap Martin and presumably wanted to dabble in Monaco property, assisted by Philipponnat, who had a way of greasing these things for a commission, probably in the Prince’s name.
Late that afternoon, I hosted Jeff Stinson on a boat ride/pub crawl through Villefranche and St-Jean Cap Ferrat for deep background on what we were trying to accomplish in Monaco.
And I learned from HUNT that shredders in the finance ministry were “red hot”: Paperwork between 2003-2004 was being destroyed at a fast pace, “including orders of Prince Rainier that had not been acted upon.”
Jeff Stinson’s USA Today story on Monaco was published on May 23rd. It appeared on the front page of their Money section, beneath this heading: “Monaco Steers Clear of Once-Shifty Image,” subtitled “Beefed-up intelligence operation monitors comings, goings.”
It was a perfect result for Operation Scribe.
Reading it from Monaco, HUNT emailed me: “Message crystal clear.”
Jay Jakub, from his seventh-floor office at CIA headquarters wrote: “Just the sort of thing that will make shady people think twice.”
From JLA: “Very good indeed.”
I did not hear from the Prince. He was not renowned for showing appreciation to those devoted to his service. And I’ll guess he probably did not even remember it was our intelligence service that had engineered this superb publicity.
The most heart-warming response came from my mentor, the former CIA spymaster, through his wife, Mary: “Clair is so proud of you.”