Tirath Khemlani

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Tirath Khemlani (died 1991) was a Pakistani broker who played a pivotal role in the Loans Affair which helped destabilise the Gough Whitlam Government in Australia. He was employed by Dalamal and Sons, a London-based commodity-trading firm, and offered his service to the Australian government in late 1974 to arrange a $AUD4 billion loan. This loan never eventuated, and the ensuing controversy led to the removal of Whitlam ministers Jim Cairns and Rex Connor and helped set the stage for the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 in which the Whitlam government was dismissed. Khemlani himself contributed to this sensational atmosphere by arriving in Australia in October 1975 bearing supposedly incriminating documents.

According to The Australian newspaper, Khemlani's nickname was reputed to be "Old Rice and Monkey Nuts" due to the fact that he traded in commodities rather than money. That nickname has subsequently been used to Google bomb Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt.

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