The Australian government inquiry that is investigating Australian Wheat Board's participation in the Oil for Food scandal is off to a roaring start, after hearings began on Monday. AWB CEO and managing director Andrew Lindberg admitted in sworn testimony that employees of AWB knew that AWB payments to a transport company were, indeed, being forwarded to agents of Saddam Hussein's regime. A United Nations investigation into the Oil for Food scandal found that the Australian wheat monopoly, AWB Ltd., had made illicit payments through numerous wheat contracts under the Iraqi humanitarian program. As late as Tuesday, in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that was later retracted, AWB was trying to assert that it had essentially acted in ignorance. But the AWB's stories fell apart under the aggressive questioning of Senior Counsel John Aguis on Wednesday afternoon. The hearings are revealing details about several different allegedly illegal actions, including a 10% "service fee" that was a kickback according to the UN investigation; illicit inland trucking fees to Alia even though Alia did not provide trucking services; and a "sham" agreement to hide arrangements with an Australian oil company. The hearing transcripts are available on the Australian Attorney General's Web site, at http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/UNOilForFoodInquiry.nsf/Page/Transcripts.
The hearing continues with Lindberg on the stand again Thursday. The inquiry is to report its findings by the end of March.
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