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Australia PM Giving Oil-For-Food Statement NewsMax.com Wires SYDNEY, Australia -- Prime Minister John Howard said Monday he would provide a written statement to the judge investigating the Australian monopoly wheat exporter's involvement in corruption of the U.N.'s Iraq oil-for-food program. The request for a statement from Howard almost certainly means the prime minister also will testify in the inquiry into the Australian Wheat Board's alleged multimillion dollar kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime. Howard would be the first prime minister to appear at such an inquiry since 1983, when former Labor leader Bob Hawke testified at an inquiry into Australia's intelligence agencies. Howard said earlier that retired judge Terence Cole, who is running the inquiry, had asked him to provide a written statement. "I will provide that statement to the inquiry tomorrow, consistent with the request," Howard said in a brief statement Monday. "As I have previously indicated, if I am asked to appear before the inquiry, I will be happy to do so." Story Continues Below
Cole, a retired judge, launched the oil-for-food probe in January at Howard's request, making Australia one of the first countries to launch its own investigation into corruption allegations surrounding the now-discredited program. A United Nations report last year accused AWB of having funneled $220 million into Saddam's coffers via a Jordanian trucking company called Alia. The wheat monopoly was the largest supplier of humanitarian aid to Iraq under the now discredited oil-for-food program, selling 6.8 million tons of wheat to Baghdad and receiving payments from the U.N. of more than $2.3 billion from 1997 to 2003. Already the Australian probe has opened a window on alleged widespread abuse of the scheme that was intended to help feed ordinary Iraqis despite U.N. sanctions slapped on Saddam following his 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Two of Howard's ministers have given statements, including Trade Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, who was being questioned at the inquiry Monday. He said his testimony and Howard's written statement underscored that the inquiry was "open and transparent." Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was to testify Tuesday. Howard's government has been accused of failing to act on a string of warnings from its diplomats in Iraq that AWB was involved in corruption. In an interview to be aired Monday night on the respected Australian Broadcasting Corp. current affairs show Four Corners, a former U.N. customs official said she warned Australian foreign ministry officials in 2000 that AWB was paying kickbacks. "They do have a responsibility to ensure that their nationals abide by the rules and the regulations," the U.N. official, Felicity Johnston, said in excerpts released early Monday. On Sunday, Downer denied that his department had been involved the unfolding scandal. There was no evidence "that anybody in my department has either been involved in a conspiracy or ... deliberately turned a blind eye," Downer told the Nine television network's "Sunday" current affairs show.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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