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Aus govt cleared of Iraq bribes
27/11/2006 07:27 - (SA)
Sydney - The Australian government has been cleared of illegal activity by a report into the payment of huge bribes to the Iraqi regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein, parliament was told on Monday.
The report recommended, however, that former executives of the national wheat exporter AWB should be considered for prosecution over the corruption of the UN's oil-for-food programme, attorney-general Philip Ruddock said.
"I found no material that is any way suggestive of illegal activity by the commonwealth (federal government) or any of its officers," Ruddock quoted the report as saying.
But the commission of inquiry said 11 former AWB executives should be considered for prosecution, including former chairperson Trevor Flugge, former chief executive Murray Rogers and former chief financial officer Paul Ingleby.
The inquiry by former judge Terence Cole was established in January after a UN report said AWB paid $220m in bribes to secure wheat contracts worth $2.3bn under the oil-for-food programme.
The UN programme was designed to allow Iraq to use money from oil exports to buy food and medicine to relieve the civilian suffering caused by international sanctions against Saddam before he was toppled in 2003.
The AWB, formerly the government-owned Australian Wheat Board, was named in the UN report as the biggest offender among some 2 200 companies from 66 countries involved in corrupting the programme.
- AFP
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