THE SPYMASTER OF MONTE CARLO: 31) I'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

A Throwback Thursday Memoir of Intrigue & Lunacy

November 2005

I arrived in Paris and treated myself to five-star Hotel Meurice, in whose whiskey bar I met Chris Dickey of Newsweek, a casual chat and prelude to his interview with Prince Albert, scheduled for the following evening.

Next morning I presented myself at Lagardere Media for an 8:30 breakfast meeting with Prince Albert’s designated chef de cabinet, Jean-Luc Allavena.

As I stood at the open French windows of JLA’s expansive office and admired a view of golden sunlight upon the Arc de Triomphe, I wondered if this poor fellow knew what the heck he was getting into, moving from a high-powered corporate job in one of the world’s most beautiful cities to a cutthroat royal court inside a gossipy, malicious hurricane of exploiters, working for a spineless prince who cared more about his next date than affairs of state.

JLA’s last day in this office, before taking up his duties at Monaco’s Palace, would be the following week.

A secretary brought in breakfast: coffee, orange juice, croissants, brioche, butter and jam.

I provided JLA with our dossiers on Jean-Paul Carteron, Dan Fischer/Francu, Umar Djabrailov, and the Freemasons, including a list of Monegasque Masons.

JLA requested we complete our report on Franck Biancheri by December 8th.

With regard to Philippe Narmino: As corrupt Director-General of Monaco Red Cross and the principality’s chief judge, Narmino had been busy blackening the name of the current Chief of Judicial Services and jostled him out of position to make room for himself, expecting his own appointment to that top job any day.

With reference to SIGER: Its officers operated in fear of retribution for investigating corrupt government officials. They needed protection, insulation and autonomy to investigate without fear of losing their jobs or being transferred to traffic control. They needed greater powers to inspect records and question suspects and witnesses.

JLA concurred.

I briefed JLA on our liaison partnerships with the CIA, MI6 and DST, and our program to cultivate relationships with other intelligence services, especially those belonging to Micro-European countries and Balkan nations.

I also warned JLA about Paris Clique clown Thierry Lacoste’s conflicted interests in Monaco.

JLA assured me that, while Lacoste had been the prince’s lawyer and adviser in the past, he would now return purely to his role as lawyer.

I had my doubts.

From JLA’s offices, I walked to DST headquarters across the River Seine.

The Director’s chef de cabinet, Thierry Matta, welcomed me onto the locked 13th floor for a substantive discussion on a number of issues.

I lunched late on my own at Angelina’s—a croque monsieur followed by their trademark hot chocolate and whipped cream, after which I took the perfect 45 minute snooze.

When I arose, I wondered across Rue de Rivoli into Tuilleries with its fine 360-degree view of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe—and I savored the golden glow of a sun about to set, a long moment of serenity. It doesn’t get better than this.

At 5:45, I plunked myself in the St. James’s bar for a glass of perfectly chilled Sancerre—a simple pleasure and another golden moment. Then I grabbed a taxi to the Albert’s apartment on Avenue Georges Mandel in the 16th arrondissement.

Chris Dickey and I waited in the lobby until Thierry Jouan, on his last trip as the prince's junior aide-de-camp, ushered us up to Albert’s apartment.

No servants were present. At the prince's invitation we helped ourselves to drinks from the late Prince Rainier’s bar—Haig Scotch for me, Ricard pastis for Dickey—and sat in a cozy nook.

Dickey interviewed the prince, a study in candid innocence, focused on the talking points I had provided him.

After Dickey departed, Albert and I spoke about my visit that morning with JLA. I also informed him about my inane meeting with FBI special agents in Washington.

The prince agreed I should write a letter to FBI Director Mueller requesting clarification of the Bureau’s relationship with us.

Then he asked if he could drop by M-Base Sunday evening. Albert was not big a drinker, but he did enjoy M-Base martinis.

I had drafted this letter for the FBI Director for Albert to read:

Dear Director Mueller:

As you know, I work as a security advisor to Prince Albert II of Monaco. In this capacity, I facilitated the Prince’s meeting with you on April 25th, 2003.

You may be aware that for a nine-year period (1993-2002) I operated secretly for the FBI on at least a half-dozen sensitive cases, including those concerning Edward Lee Howard, Ira Einhorn, and the Cuban Interests Section. Because I took FBI-sponsored trips to Moscow, Havana and other places, operating undercover without diplomatic immunity at some risk to myself, I believe I earned the appreciation and respect of various special agents, supervisory special agents, and special agents-in-charge in the field offices of Washington, D.C., Albuquerque, Philadelphia, and also inside Headquarters.

In my role as advisor to Prince Albert I have striven to facilitate a good-faith relationship with the Bureau, with a view toward keeping the FBI apprised of any criminal activity in Monaco pertaining to U.S. citizens.

In October 2004, FBI Special Agent Charles McGonigal advised me that, because I am a U.S. citizen residing abroad, the Bureau could no longer receive information from me without specific permission from the Attorney General. Mr. McGonigal initiated paperwork to obtain such permission and anticipated a process that would take several months.

Eleven months later, Special Agent Paul of your LA field office contacted me. (Agent Paul has been working on an investigation of a retired Air Force colonel, a Monaco resident whose case I brought to the attention of the FBI, at Prince Albert’s request, due to this retired colonel’s serious financial discrepancies.) Special Agent Paul suggested in his e-mail to me that permission from the Attorney General had been granted, and he requested that I travel to the U.S. to meet with him.

Two weeks ago, I met with Charles McGonigal and Paul in Washington D.C. They stated that due to a “blanket policy” regarding persons who have contact with the FBI, in order for me to have any further contact with FBI agents I would be required to take a polygraph examination.

When I met with Prince Albert last week, we discussed this issue, and frankly, we are bewildered.

I am not applying for a job with the FBI. I am not, nor do I wish to be, an asset for the FBI. I do not seek payment or remuneration from the FBI. Furthermore, I do not, on the Prince’s behalf, wish to receive classified information from the FBI.

We simply wish to give the Bureau information we believe the Bureau should possess.

We would be grateful if you consider the position set down by Agents Charles and Paul and clarify the apparent suggestion that I am no longer allowed to report criminal activity to the FBI. (Is it truly the Bureau’s policy that no one be permitted to report criminal activity to FBI agents without first submitting to a polygraph examination?)

Please help us put this situation into perspective so that the Prince and I may weigh how best to coordinate the distribution of important information to those who may benefit by such information and who may be in a position to act upon it effectively.

Once we know your final decision, we can determine our options, which range from calling the FBI ANSIR hotline to report alleged crimes (from which we may eventually reap a reward of up to $500,000, although a financial reward has never been our motive) to contacting U.S. Senators as a conduit for passing information directly to your office.

I do not want to envisage a scenario whereby we have significant information about criminal activities and cannot get it to the appropriate law enforcement organization in a timely fashion, or at all. But we appear to be in that very position currently with the Bureau, as we possess information regarding a U.S. citizen resident in Monaco who is allegedly engaged in the brokerage of uranium, and your agents, with their understanding of current conditions, refuse to accept this information from us.

Prince Albert announced at his investiture speech on July 12th that he plans to introduce a new ethic and a clampdown on money laundering. That is what we intend to do, and we hope we can count on your support as we go forward.

Thank you for your attention.

Respectfully yours,

(Signed)

Clair George had howled with laughter when I read him this letter.

When he finally stopped laughing, I asked, "Should I send it?"

He replied, "Oh, you must!"

(Clair seemed to understand, better than I, the consternation it might cause at a senior bureaucratic level.)

“Good letter,” said Albert. “Send it.”

When I arrived in Monaco on November 12th, Jean-Paul Carteron was in the midst of his annual Monaco World Summit, whose participants included Veselko Grubisic, the chief of Croatia’s intelligence agency.

I left a note for Grubisic at 3:45 saying I wished to see him on behalf of Prince Albert.

Less than ten minutes later, my cell phone rang. It was Grubisic, eager to meet.

The magical attraction of royalty.

We did so, in the lobby of the Port Palace Hotel at 6:30.

By the end of our meeting my intelligence service had a new liaison partner.

Not only did Albert appear for martinis at M-Base on Sunday evening as scheduled, he was 20 minutes early.

“This is a first,” I said to him. “Must be the allure of the martini.”

(Indeed, he drank two.)

I told the prince about our new liaison partnership with the Croatians.

“That’s the upside of Jean-Paul Carteron,” I said. “He brings them to our neighborhood, saves us travel expense.”

And Albert read a batch of intelligence we had requested and received from the DST on various targets.

I briefed the prince on Sotrama, a Monaco subsidiary of Horizon Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg, Russia—and how their money-laundering operations linked personally to President Vladimir Putin.

We revisited SIGER and Albert requested a written proposal for enlarging the police intelligence unit. He mentioned how, years earlier, whoever was serving as interior minister had removed the Palace as a recipient of police intelligence.

From that point onward, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco knew only what the government wanted him to know. Until my arrival the scene.