May 18, 2006

Australian wheat exporter apologises for paying kickbacks to Iraq

Australia's wheat exporter AWB Ltd apologised to the public for paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, in a statement released Thursday (May 18) by a public inquiry into the alleged corruption.

In a letter drafted in December last year, AWB's former managing director Andrew Lindberg acknowledged the exporter made payments to Saddam as part of the United Nations discredited Oil-For-Food programme.

The inquiry investigated whether AWB knowingly paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to a Jordanian trucking company that was part-owned by Saddam's government.

AWB conceded that it paid money to the Iraq government in the form of inland transportation and after sales service which violated UN sanctions, Lindberg's statement said.

AWB lost a bid to prevent the letter from being published.