May 29, 2006

Australia's AWB may be investigated over Indian wheat deal

Australian Federal Police might be asked to investigate a second emerging kickback scandal involving wheat exporter AWB Ltd over a AUS$3.3 million (US$2.5 million)  payment to an account in the Cayman Islands as part of a sale to India, according to a newspaper report Monday (May 29).

Terence Cole, who heads an inquiry into kickbacks paid by AWB to the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein under a UN oil-for-food program, is looking at the evidence before him, according to a spokeswoman for Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A reference to the payment in the Indian wheat deal in 1998, when AWB was a government agency, was found in a record of an AWB board meeting that was handed to the Cole inquiry, the report said.

The government would wait until Cole reports before deciding whether to refer the Indian deal to the police, the spokeswoman said.

Cole is scheduled to report on his investigation into the legality of AWB payments to Saddam by June 30, but some recent media reports have suggested he would seek more time from the government.