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| Down Under |
| Australian wheat board involved in oil-for-food scandal |
| 2005-10-27 |
| AUSTRALIAN wheat sales to Iraq were used to illegally funnel about $US200 million ($262.78 million) from the UN humanitarian oil-for-food program to prop up Saddam Hussein's murderous regime. Farmers last night expressed fury that their grain had been used in illicit deals that could still be funding the bloody insurgency in Iraq. The Howard Government was bracing itself for an explosive UN report, which identifies the AWB as one of 3000 companies involved in the corruption scandal that siphoned $US12.8 billion ($16.82 billion) to Saddam over the seven years the program operated. The report, by UN chief investigator Paul Volcker, which was released early this morning (AEST), says the AWB, formerly the Australian Wheat Board, was involved in providing $US200 million in payments to a transport firm, but also finds there is insufficient evidence to show the AWB or its executives were aware the money was ultimately going to Saddam. Shares in AWB, which earlier this month touched a record high of $5.41, collapsed yesterday afternoon, falling 23c ahead of the release of the Volcker report. The stock finished more than four per cent lower, at $5.16, giving the company a market value of almost $1.8 billion. AWB was the largest supplier of wheat to Iraq under Saddam, and sold about 10 million tonnes of grain under the oil-for-food program, set up after the first Gulf War. Under the program, Iraq was allowed to sell oil in order to pay for food, medical and other humanitarian supplies. Sales revenue was handled by the UN, which would then pay the companies exporting goods to Iraq. However, the sales contracts were negotiated directly between the exporter and the former Iraqi government - in AWB's case, with the Iraqi Grains Board. The IGB insisted AWB use an overpriced Jordanian trucking company called Alia to deliver the wheat within Iraq. AWB has said the inflated delivery cost was added to the amount it charged the UN for the wheat. Alia would then pay part of the shipping cost to Saddam's regime. AWB has always strongly denied any deliberate wrongdoing in its dealings with Iraq, saying it never knowingly paid kickbacks. Last night, AWB said it had "fully co-operated with the investigation". "AWB did not knowingly pay or enter into any arrangements to pay monies to the former regime," it said in a statement. "AWB relied on the UN to supervise and regulate the (program). There was a 10-step contract approval process established by the UN. Each AWB contract went through this process and was approved." It is most of the companies implicated in bribery are Russian, followed by French. People mentioned in the report include British lawmaker George Galloway and Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Top European companies like Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG and Siemens, Britain's Weir Group and the Brussels-based branch of Volvo Construction Engineers were among those reported to have paid kickbacks to Iraq. Chairman of West Australian farmers group Western Grain Growers, Leon Bradley, said money corruptly paid to Saddam was now conceivably funding terrorists fighting against coalition forces in Iraq. "This destruction has been partly funded courtesy of the AWB," he said. "It's ironic that our Government forces farmers to supply their wheat to an organisation that steals food out of the mouths of children." The comments appeared to confirm the fears of senior Nationals party figures, who said they were concerned West Australian farmers, who produce about half of Australia's annual wheat crop, would use the report to renew their demands for AWB to be dismantled. Mr Bradley said he believed the oil-for-food scandal was the reason AWB this week lost a contract to supply one million tonnes of wheat to Iraq. The contract, which went to the US, was awarded under a new tender system which puts the Iraqi Government, rather than the suppliers, in charge of shipping the wheat. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi said AWB would not quote prices under the new system. A spokesman for Mr Volcker's office said yesterday that "the inclusion of (any company) in the report does not amount to evidence of a crime, but some evidence of manipulation one way or another". He added that "some of these people may be innocent". Australia and Iraq have had a series of problems regarding wheat exports, and are yet to settle a dispute from earlier this year involving alleged contamination of Australian wheat with iron ore dust and claims by Australia for compensation for detaining its ships at Umm Qasr. UN investigators last year asked AWB for all documents related to contracts signed between 1991 and the start of the US-led war in 2003, amid allegations that Australian wheat had been sold to Iraq at what appeared to be an inflated price. One contract, signed in 2003, showed that Saddam's government agreed to buy 525,000 tonnes of wheat from AWB at E280 per tonne. At the time, the US was selling wheat for about E151 a tonne. A spokesman for Trade Minister Mark Vaile refused to comment until the report was released. |
| Posted by:God Save The World AKA Oztralian |