Roderick Deane the Chairman of the State Services Commission was asked to investigate, and when he uncovered evidence of departmental incompetence produced a fuller report on Christmas eve. Sometimes working through the night, he found that "some ministers" had known about the negotiations but failed to stop it, and Reedy's signing of a document headed "Unconditional and Irrevocable Fee Agreement" was unauthorised and contrary to Treasury advice. The terms of 4% interest over 25 years were not believable; the money according to a telex from the embassy in Washington was probably laundered, fraudulent or non-existent; and the supposed source of the loan, one Achmed Omar of the Kuwaiti royal family did not exist. The loan was for $US 300 million, and papers released suggested that the proposal would use Māori land as collateral, and that as well as the 3.5% fee to Gicondi there would also be a 2.5% fee for Raepelle, totalling 6%. Trevor de Cleene suggested that the money source might be Ferdinand Marcos who was then living in Hawaii. The first interest payment would have been $24 million; David Lange, who was in his element, told a hui, "You tell me the kids are out in the streets ... the next minute you tell me you can finance $24 million". Activist Titewhai Harawira told Lange that "the Māori people needed far more than $600 million, and the government should let them borrow it". The principal was Max Raepple a "self-styled German financier" with a friend Michael Gisondi. Raepple had arrived in New Zealand in January, and on 21 January Lange took a swipe at "some of the Māori whingers and activists (with) something of a cargo cult mentality which is an utter betrayal of what Māori enterprise is about" and "self-appointed activists in international finance ranging from undischarged bankrupts to lapsed priests and all sorts of people who accept the bona fides of (Raepelle) who will not allow his credentials to even be read by a newspaper". Bassett commented that "the likes of Eva Rickard, Sonny Waru, Ken Mair and Eru Potaka Dewes who were strutting about, knew little about business". Journalists investigated (Rocky) Cribb, the supposed Hawaiian bankers, the shadowy Europeans Max Raepple and Michael Gisondi, and their Māori connections.