Canberra, Australia – An inquiry cleared Australia’s government of wrongdoing in an Iraqi oil-for-food scandal Monday but recommended that top officials of the monopoly wheat exporter face charges for paying more than $200 million to Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Prime Minister John Howard promised that the inquiry’s key recommendations would be acted upon immediately and said the findings vindicated him and other top government officials who denied having prior knowledge of the kickbacks.
Howard’s government launched the inquiry last year after an investigation by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker exposed the AWB – formerly the state-owned Australian Wheat Board – as the largest source of suspect payments under the oil-for-food program.
Former Judge Terence Cole recommended that police investigate 11 executives from the wheat exporter and a 12th from another company, saying they deceived the United Nations and probably broke Australian corporate and criminal law. But he found no evidence of wrongdoing by government officials in his month-long prove.
Howard said a police task force would be set up to investigate AWB executives mentioned by Cole, who identified possible crimes but did not have the power to file charges.
Howard also said the government would review the system granting AWB a monopoly over Australia’s wheat exports. The system has been criticized as unfairly protective by Australia’s competitors on world grain markets.
“The government has hidden nothing,” Howard said after the report was released.
The program was intended to alleviate the hardships of the Iraqi people while isolating Hussein’s government. Its aim was to allow Iraq to trade some oil for food and other necessities under close U.N. supervision while the country remained under international sanctions.
