Ohhhhh, I get it now. IMPEACH JOHN HOWARD TOO. The Axis of Lying Dogs is now complete.

Saddam cash scandal puts heat on PM

Link Here

BHP made wheat for oil or cash deal
Reputation for good corporate conduct is at risk, Australia warned
Marian Wilkinson: A trail that leads from Baghdad to Canberra

FORMER chief executive for Australia's wheat exporter, AWB Ltd, has drawn the Federal Government directly into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, saying he could recall his staff travelling to Canberra to discuss contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime that included multimillion-dollar kickbacks.

On the opening day of the inquiry into the role of Australian companies in the scandal yesterday, the former chief executive for AWB, Murray Rogers, was also shown emails revealing the company's attempt to hide its secret payments to the Iraqi regime from the United Nations, including one suggesting that staff could set up a Jordan account with a "friendly bank" like ANZ or "buy a very large suitcase".

Mr Rogers repeatedly told the inquiry chief, Terrence Cole, QC, he could not recall the damning internal documents that showed AWB officers negotiating contracts with the Iraq regime that included inflated fees for kickbacks.

But Mr Rogers said AWB managers "went to Canberra to talk to [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade], and that's about the only thing I can ever remember".

AWB was the largest provider of humanitarian goods to Iraq during the UN oil-for-food program, receiving $2.3 billion in payments from the UN. But the contracts, which included inflated inland transport fees and after-service fees, ultimately resulted in almost $300 million in kickbacks going to Saddam's regime, the largest single source of its bribes.

In its opening hours, the Cole inquiry demolished the public claims by AWB executives that it had no knowledge of paying kickbacks to Iraq for wheat contracts and raised serious questions about a culture of kickbacks and hidden payments by AWB in other markets including Pakistan and Iran.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, John Agius, SC, said AWB's "oft-repeated mantra" that its contracts were approved by the UN did not appear to be true because it never informed the UN of its deal to pay the inflated transport fees.

The inquiry also raised fresh evidence about a deal between BHP and AWB over the sale of $5 million worth of wheat to Iraq on credit in 1995. While BHP insisted yesterday it was simply a "humanitarian gesture", Mr Agius indicated the deal would be fully explored by the inquiry because the credit was repaid to a BHP-related company, Tigris Petroleum, through an inflated wheat contract between Iraq and AWB.

Documents and witnesses uncovered by the inquiry so far reveal that AWB executives seriously misled the UN's inquiry into the scandal headed by Paul Volcker by suppressing documents in a cover-up of the scandal that appears to date back to 1999. Continues..


Mr Agius repeatedly asked Mr Rogers why no AWB board minutes or financial reports spelt out the fees in the Iraq contracts and asked whether this was deliberately done so nothing would appear in the records.

Mr Rogers repeatedly answered, "I cannot remember" or "I cannot recall".


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--Ohhhhooo, Rossi. No way this was going on without Howard knowing. No way in HELL.

Who do you call in your government to ask when he will be impeached?

What is the chain of command for an ordinary voting citizen to vent to the high Government of of Australia..???

Save Our Soldiers!!! IMPEACH OUR LEADERS!!!!

Fire them all. Or as many as possible.---