AWB knew of Iraq kickbacks: inquiry

Australia: "Wheat exporter AWB knew it was funding Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein's regime with hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks, and paid middlemen to hide the massive evasion of UN sanctions, an inquiry has been told.

"But the company's former chief executive, the first witness at an official inquiry into the affair, denied any knowledge of where the money was going or how the payments were arranged.

"The Commission of Inquiry into AWB's deals under the corruption-ridden UN oil-for-food program was told it was impossible to believe AWB's claims that it did not know $300 million of its money was being funnelled to Saddam.

"AWB maintains it was the unwitting victim of an elaborate ruse and had no idea the inflated trucking fees it paid to a Jordanian company, Alia, were ending up in the dictator's pocket."
The Age

"The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) is the Australian company which oversees the exports of grain, paticularly wheat.

"Originaly a government body, the AWB still acts as a single desk for the sale of Australian wheat.

"Normally a low profile organisation, the AWB made headlines in late 2005 when it was revealled that it had been, at best, careless about kickbacks to the Iraq Government. At the insistance of the Iraq Government, the AWB agreed to pay 'transportation fees' of around $AUD 300 million to a firm that it knew was not involved in the transportation of Australian wheat. At the same time, the price per ton was raised by an amount equal to the 'transportation fees' [1]"
Wikipedia

AWB website

Tagged: iraq, corporation, corporations