| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| John Howard 'suspected Iraq rorts' |
| 2006-04-13 |
| PRIME Minister John Howard said today he believed as early as 2002 that Saddam Hussein was rorting the UN oil-for-food program, but never suspected the Australian Wheat Board had any part in the corruption. Testifying to the Cole inquiry today, Mr Howard said he "did not receive or read" any of a batch of diplomatic cables documents that could have alerted him to suspicious deals between AWB and Iraq. Suspicions about AWB, Mr Howard said, "did not really enter my mind until 2005", despite his long-held view that the scheme had been corrupted. "There was absolutely no belief anywhere in the Government at that time that AWB was anything other than a company of great reputation," Mr Howard told the inquiry. Your say: The AWB scandal He said there was "nothing by way of hard evidence" given to the Government to support allegations raised by UN officials that the AWB may have had illegal contracts with Iraq. "It would appear on the face of it the matter was going to be dealt with," Mr Howard said. It is now known that AWB was the biggest single contributor of kickbacks to the Iraqi regime, funnelling $290m to Saddam's government. AWB was the biggest provider of humanitarian food aid under the program. The Cole inquiry has uncovered a steady stream of diplomatic cables sent to Canberra from New York and Baghdad highlighting the involvement of AWB in sanction-busting deals. Today, Mr Howard said he saw none of those cables. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer admitted seeing at least one of the warnings but admitted it was not of great concern. The inquiry today heard that Mr Howard gave a speech to the National Press Club in March 2003, the month the allied forces invaded Iraq, in which he condemned Saddam's government for rorting the UN's oil-for-food program. Counsel assissting the inquiry, John Agius SC, asked Mr Howard when he first believed the Iraqi dictator's government had been rorting the program. "It would be well before that," Mr Howard said. "Probably a year or more that I would have had that belief." Mr Agius: "In that connection did you ever have any suspicion that any Australian company including AWB, one of the largest exporters to Iraq, might have been involved in that rorting?" Mr Howard: "No I didn't. "I'd never been presented with any hard evidence. "I guess I was conscious only of AWB because of the predominant role of AWB in the wheat trade and I had always believed the best of that company as had most people in the government." In a statement to the inquiry, Mr Howard denied seeing even one of the documents uncovered by the inquiry which would have alerted the government to the in kickbacks being paid to Iraq. Mr Howard said he did not see a cable sent in June 2003 stating the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq believed all contracts between Saddam's government and companies involved in the UN's oil-for-food program contained kickbacks of between 10 and 19 per cent. Mr Howard agreed with Mr Agius that the warning in the cable was "a very bald statement" but he would not have expected his advisers to have showed it to him. The cable was sent just three months after allied forces invaded Iraq and ousted Saddam's regime. "The issue of whether the former regime had been corrupt and corrupted programs was not contentious to me," Mr Howard said. "It was accepted that it had. "I can only repeat that I don't necessarily dispute his judgement (his adviser's) in not bringing it to my attention particularly because the cable describes a mechanism whereby the issue was to be resolved." Mr Howard was interrogated by counsel assisting the inquiry, John Agius QC, but commissioner Terence Cole then prevented any other cross-examination by lawyers representing other parties at the hearing. "I do not believe any further cross-examination would assist this inquiry," Mr Cole said. The Prime Minister was asked whether it would have stayed in his mind if he had been aware of the warning raised a cable from the UN. Mr Howard replied: "Not necessarily because attacking the behaviour of one's trade competitors in the international wheat trade is fairly common." Mr Howard was the first serving prime minister in 23 years to take the witness stand at such an inquiry. A small group of demonstrators had gathered outside the Cole inquiry building and one protester who tried to enter the building after Mr Howard was arrested by more than a dozen police officers. Your say |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #3 noun Austral. informal [1] a fraudulent or dishonest act or practice. [2] a wild party. In this case - both sort of. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-04-13 18:59 |
| #2 I'm guessing it's Aussie for "riots" |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2006-04-13 17:49 |
| #1 "rort"? Is that a word? Speak English, ye damn Aussies! ;) |
| Posted by: BH 2006-04-13 16:21 |