owned by Australians. The Minister for Minerals and Energy was raising the loan independently of the Treasury. Rather than attempting to raise the loan from US financiers, Connor attempted to raise the loan from Arab financiers, with Khemlani acting as the intermediary. There were unconfirmed reports that Arab financiers offered lower interest rates on governmental loans than US banks and financiers. The Middle East at the time was awash with petrodollars since the price of oil quadrupled between 1973 and 1974. Connor was duly authorised to raise loans through Khemlani in late 1974. Between December 1974 and May 1975, Khemlani sent regular telexes to Connor that advised that he was close to securing the loan. However, the loan never eventuated. In May 1975, Whitlam sought to secure the loan instead through a major US investment bank. As part of the loan procedure, the bank imposed an obligation on the Australian government to cease all other loan-raising activities pertaining to this loan. Accordingly, on 20 May 1975, Connor's loan-raising authority was formally revoked. Leak of loan proposal As news leaked of the plan, the opposition began questioning the government. Under questioning from Fraser, Whitlam said on 20 May that the loans pertained to "matters of energy", that the Loans Council had not been advised and that it would be advised only "if and when the loan is made". The following day, he told Fraser and Parliament that authority for the plan had been revoked. On 4 June 1975, Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns, misled Parliament by claiming that he had not given a letter to an intermediary offering a 2.5% commission on a loan. Whitlam removed Cairns from Treasury, made him Minister for the Environment and later dismissed him from Cabinet. A special one-day sitting of the House of Representatives was held on 9 July 1975 during which Prime Minister Gough Whitlam tabled the documents containing evidence about the loan and attempted to defend his government's actions. Beset by economic difficulties at the time and by the negative political impact conjured up by the affair, the Whitlam Government was vulnerable to further assaults on its credibility. Although Connor's authority to seek an overseas loan was withdrawn after the leaking of the scandal, he continued to liaise with Khemlani. The Journalist Peter Game from the major Melbourne daily newspaper The Herald tracked down Khemlani in mid-late 1975 and following an