Rudd probe into Iraq kickbacks
Josh Gordon; 25/5/08
Labor is set to relaunch investigations into the AWB wheat-for-weapons scandal amid concern that the Cole Commission failed to properly examine whether the previous government was aware that the company siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime. The Sunday Age believes that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is pushing ahead with plans to reopen the inquiry, although a public statement is unlikely until the courts have dealt with former AWB chairman Trevor Flugge and other executives embroiled in the affair. The Cole Commission concluded in late 2006 that AWB was knowingly paying kickbacks to Sad-dam’s regime between 1999 and 2003, funnelling an estimated $290 million disguised as trucking fees to avoid United Nations sanctions.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rudd-probe-into-iraq-kickbacks/2008/05/24/1211183189576.html
Tags: Australia, AWB Kickbacks, Iraq