Australia Widens Inquiry Into Iraq Scandal
Australian Inquiry Into Iraq Bribery Scandal to Try to Learn What Federal Government Knew

By Ed Johnson
February 20, 2006
ABC News.com
Original Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1642689
SYDNEY, Australia Feb 20, 2006 (AP)— An investigation into whether Australia's wheat exporter paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein under the U.N. oil-for-food program will try to learn what government officials knew about the alleged scam, the head of the inquiry said Tuesday. 
Prime Minister John Howard has insisted his government knew nothing of the multimillion dollar payments that the country's monopoly exporter, AWB Ltd., allegedly made to the former Iraqi dictator in violation of U.N. sanctions. 
But a statement from an AWB executive to the inquiry on Monday suggested Australian officials were aware of the payments as early as March 2001. If the claims are true, it could prove embarrassing for Howard's government, which has come under sustained pressure from the opposition politicians throughout the six-week inquiry. 
Terence Cole, the former Supreme Court judge heading the investigation, urged lawmakers and public servants to come forward if they had any evidence suggesting the government knew about the alleged payments. 
Now is the time for any person with information to provide it to the inquiry, he said. 
AWB, formerly known as the Australian Wheat Board, was the largest single supplier of humanitarian goods under the U.N.-sponsored oil-for-food program. In 1997-2003, the company sold 6.8 million tons of wheat to Iraq and received payments from the U.N. of more than $2.3 billion. 
Cole's government-backed inquiry is examining whether AWB executives knowingly paid up to $222 million in bogus transport fees to a Jordanian trucking company partially owned by the Iraqi government. 
Investigators say the money was paid to secure lucrative wheat contracts in Iraq and was funneled straight into Saddam's coffers, violating U.N. sanctions.