Opposition alleges government cover-up on Iraq kickbacks  (10/7/06)
The ALP has alleged to have received documents showing the Australian Government had colluded with AWB and deliberately lied to the US Senate to hide the grain trader's kickbacks to Saddam Hussein.
Labor's public accountability spokesman Kelvin Thomson said documents obtained by his office through Freedom of Information showed the Howard Government had assisted AWB in dodging questions from the US Senate about $300 million in kickbacks paid by AWB to the government of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, during an investigation into the UN oil-for-food program.
Mr Thomson said the documents showed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had co-drafted a crucial letter to US Senator Norm Coleman, chairman of the sub-committee investigating the UN program, and briefed AWB before and after its meeting with Australian Ambassador Michael Thawley and Senator Coleman. (The Australian)

Australian wheat off to Iraq today (7/7/06)
Australia's first wheat shipment to Iraq since Baghdad banned AWB will leave for the Middle East today. The 50,000-tonne shipment, the first instalment of a 350,000-tonne contract, was being loaded in Geelong yesterday.
The $90 million sale was negotiated by Wheat Australia (CBH, GrainCorp and ABB joint venture) after almost three months of negotiations with the Iraq Grain Board. (The Australian)

AWB to fight $1bil US wheat farmers class action (3/7/06)
AWB has vowed to defend a $1 billion class action lodged by North American farmers using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act.
"Such actions are ill-conceived," AWB spokesman Peter McBride said yesterday. "If any action is lodged, AWB will vigorously defend itself."
The North American farmers will argue they missed out on Iraqi wheat deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars because AWB stitched up the market by paying $290 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime.
AWB is believed to have legal advice that suggests the claim is unlikely to succeed. (The Australian)

AWB to face $1billion lawsuit (30/6/06)
US and Canadian wheat farmers are preparing a $1 billion damages claim against AWB, using the country's RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO) laws.
The farmers will claim they suffered lost income because AWB was paying illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
The RICO Act was passed by the US Congress in 1970 to eliminate organised crime. The Act has more recently been applied to terrorist organisations.
The law covers bribery, kickbacks and extortion and only applies when there is a pattern of criminal activity, rather than a "one-off crime". (The Australian)

Cole report likely to be delayed (23/06/06)
The Cole Report findings are likely to be delayed after the Federal Court granted AWB the right to have a court decide the legal status of documents over which they claim legal professional privilege. 
Last week the government granted Cole more powers to co-opt documents, but the Federal Court decision precedes that legislation. AWB has already been forced to allow Mr Cole access to a ‘letter of contrition’, which was inadvertently included in papers submitted to the Inquiry and appeared to be inconsistent with some evidence given to the Inquiry. The draft letter was never sent. Now AWB wants to keep additional papers from scrutiny by the Cole Inquiry.
The case will be heard in mid-July, which seems to suggest that the report will be significantly delayed.

Long, Stott resign from AWB (16/6/06)
Months after delivering embarrassing testimony at the Cole inquiry, two of AWB's top executives have resigned from the wheat exporter.
AWB's head of international sales and marketing, Michael Long, will leave the company next month, and its rural affairs chief, Charles Stott, departed yesterday
Including Mr Long and Mr Stott, six senior executives have left the company since the inquiry into its $290 million worth of kickbacks to Saddam's regime began in January. The former managing director, Andrew Lindberg, who left in February, received a $1.3 million payout. (The Age)

AWB continue Cole legal priviledge fight (31/5/06)
AWB is prepared to take action in the Federal Court in Melbourne to prevent commissioner Terence Cole from gaining access to documents protected by legal professional privilege.
Mr Cole wrote to Mr Ruddock requesting changes to the Royal Commissions Act that would give him the power to examine the documents. It is believed the company will launch its action before Attorney-General Philip Ruddock can ask the parliament to pass changes. The Federal Court has ruled that Mr Cole cannot order AWB to produce documents over which it claims professional privilege - not even to determine whether the claim is valid. (The Australian)

UN satisfied AWB not flouting sanctions (15/5/06)
Felicity Johnston, Chief Customs Officer with the UN Office of the Iraq Program in 1999-2003, testified to the Cole Inquiry that she contacted Australian government officials to investigate claims that AWB were paying kickbacks to the Iraq regime.
In correspondence tendered at the Inquiry between DFAT's Bronte Moules and Ms Johnston, AWB and DFAT both denied that AWB made any payments outside the oil-for-food system. Ms Johnston added that because of the good reputations of both the Australian government and AWB, the claims of kickbacks were not investigated any further because both were viewed as "low risk".
She also tesitfied that the UN customs officials viewed a number of contracts containing a US$12/t "discharge fee", but did not recognise it being in contravention of UN sanctions. Ms Johnston conceded that because food contracts were of great importance and needed to be processed quickly, it was possible that the contracts may not have been as scrutinised as closely as they could have been.

India says imported Australian wheat safe to eat (3/5/06)
India on Tuesday said follow-up tests had shown a cargo of wheat imported from Australia contained a safe amount of pesticide and that the shipment had been cleared.
Preliminary tests on grain samples last week in the port city of Chennai revealed a pesticide content of 0.25 parts per million (ppm), well above the permissible limit of 0.05 ppm, officials said. Unloading of the grain was halted. But further analysis at Mysore's Central Food Technological Research Institute in the southern state of Karnataka cleared the wheat as fit for human consumption.
Scientists declined to give details of the second round of tests, but a port official told Reuters in Chennai that the difference between the two sets of results was due to evaporation. (Reuters)

India refuses Australian wheat (2/5/06)
A 50,000-tonne shipment of Australian wheat has been prevented from unloading in the port of Chennai, due to unacceptable levels of pesticides.
The shipment (of South Australian wheat) is now awaiting further testing from Indian and Australian authorities. A high-level AWB delegation has been sent to India to address the concerns.

BHP's wheat shipment executive stands down (28/4/06)
PHIL Aiken, the BHP Billiton senior executive called before the Cole inquiry to explain the so-called Tigris affair, is stepping down. BHP and Mr Aiken were yesterday quick to deny suggestions that his departure was related to his involvement with Tigris or his performance at the inquiry.  Mr Aiken, BHP group president of energy, last month appeared before the inquiry to explain how a 1996 wheat shipment to Iraq ultimately cost the company $8 million. (The Australian)

AWB acting CEO steps down (24/4/06)
THE acting chief executive of AWB, Peter Polson, stepped down yesterday, leaving its executive chairman, Brendan Stewart, in charge of the wheat exporter. A statement from AWB said Mr Polson would "concentrate on his other business interests". Mr Polson will remain on the AWB board. Mr Stewart was the chairman of AWB during the period it funnelled nearly $300 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime.