Iraq grain purchases...

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

I find this very interesting!

"Iraq not corruption free yet: minister
October 17, 2007 - 4:20PM"

"The Iraq government says it cannot guarantee a repeat of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) scandal would never happen, but says it is increasingly unlikely as the country battles against corruption.

Iraq Trade Minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudani met with Australia's Trade Minister Warren Truss in Brisbane on Wednesday to discuss export opportunities and the rebuilding of the wheat trade between the two countries after last year's scandal.

The AWB lost its monopoly on wheat exports after it was revealed the export body paid $300 million in illegal kickbacks to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime under the UN oil-for-food program.

Asked whether he could guarantee the scandal would never repeat itself, Dr Al-Sudani said there was always the possibility it would.

"There are possibilities in every time, but I think the trust between us and Australia is growing and is very strong," he told journalists.

He said "certain circumstances" which allowed the scandal to occur were no longer in place and Iraq was no longer imposing bribes on companies outside the country.

But he said he could not say the government was rid of corruption yet.

"We cannot say our government is corruption free, that is not right," he said.

"But we are fighting corruption ... the efforts of government is producing some good, positive results, but still we are fighting corruption."

Mr Truss said he had ensured the Iraq government of Australia's determination that its companies operate ethically around the world and its intention to prosecute those who did not.

"Australia was embarrassed about the circumstances surrounding the wheat trade with Iraq," Mr Truss said.

But both men said their countries looked forward to the grain trade beginning again, although the current drought meant that could not begin this season.

Meanwhile, Dr Al-Sudani thanked Australia for its troop contribution to his country's security, which was improving.

He said reconciliation and compromise between different political factions in Iraq was having a "calming" effect on violence in the country.

"I think the political circumstances, political environment, may contribute in improving the security situation," he said.

© 2007 AAP"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Iraq-not-corruption-free-yet-minister/2007/10/17/1192300843696.html

I wonder... how many other countries partake in the corruption?

[parsley]

Sorry Tom, I have been away again!

Open books at the CWB may prove to be interesting.

For instance, when the Australian Wheat Board visited Canada during the the Iraq Grain Scandal fiasco, with whom did the CWB meet with? Where? Did they discuss Iraq? Did they discuss Sask Wheat Pools's defensive reply in the paper?

Were any meetings documented? If not, why not?

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

I see this:

Wheat board employees to face ASIC
Leonie Wood
October 24, 2007


"ALMOST a year after the Federal Government assigned a multi- agency taskforce to investigate AWB's illicit dealings with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has finally begun interviewing former and current employees of the wheat exporter.

ASIC on Monday interviewed an ex-AWB senior executive, Sarah Scales, and has scheduled formal examinations this week with Darryl Borlase, Michael Watson, Chris Whitwell, Dominic Hogan, Peter Hargreaves, Darryl Hockey, Sandra Gatto, Jessica Lyons, Graham Owen and Stuart Richardson. The former AWB chief executive, Andrew Lindberg, who quit the company in January last year just as the Cole inquiry began its public hearings into the wheat deals, is due to answer ASIC's questions on October 30.

ASIC wants to contact at least 67 former executives and staff and six current employees who may have been involved in AWB's wheat exports to Iraq between 1999 and 2004.

The examinations are conducted in private, but a document filed in the Federal Court this week indicates that AWB expects its lawyers will get transcripts.

More ASIC interviews are scheduled next month as the regulator investigates possible breaches of the Corporations Act, the Commonwealth Crimes Act and the Victorian Criminal Code arising from AWB's secret payment of $290 million to Iraq between 1999 and 2004.

The payments, disguised as trucking fees paid to an Iraqi government-controlled company named Alia, breached United Nations sanctions designed to shut down Iraq's finances.

ASIC also is examining the so-called Tigris transaction: BHP shipped wheat to Iraq in the mid-1990s, ostensibly as a donation to feed starving Iraqis during the sanctions but with the clear aim of ingratiating BHP so that it might secure oil development rights over oilfields in southern Iraq"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/wheat-board-employees-to-face-asic/2007/10/23/1192941065347.html

Would be VERY interesting to know what the CWB/Goodale/SWP connection was... and what it involved... no doubt about it!

[parsley]

Wonder if any of the Aussies listed will apply/applied for a job at the CWB.

Names to remember.

Parsley
How long will this take Tom? 4 more years?

[TOM4CWB]

Iraqi offer to buy foiled by drought
Craig Skehan
October 29, 2007

"AFTER all the acrimony and alarm about AWB's infamous kickbacks to Saddam Hussein crippling a multibillion-dollar wheat market, rapprochement with the current Iraqi Government has been undermined by the drought.

The office of the Trade Minister, Warren Truss, confirmed yesterday that high-level talks had resulted in Baghdad agreeing to buy Australian wheat next year, including from AWB.

"But we don't have any wheat to sell them and we're not sure we will because of the drought," a spokesman for Mr Truss said.

AWB paid almost $300 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime to secure wheat sales before the 2003 US-led invasion, in which Australia participated.

At the time, there were mountainous stockpiles of wheat and tough competition from other producers such as the US and Canada.

The Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, was formerly Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, and in that capacity he criticised AWB and the Howard Government for allowing the scandal to happen.

Now Labor says it plans, if elected on November 24, to create a new wheat marking body to usher in competition to AWB. But there is no intention by Labor to punish AWB with any specific prohibition on it selling grain to Iraq.

Already several new players have signalled an interest in selling to Iraq. If the drought eases and there are again good harvests, more Australian wheat will no doubt go to Iraq. And AWB can be expected to have a role."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/iraqi-offer-to-buy-foiled-by-drought/2007/10/28/1193555533337.html