Sydney Herald: Revealed: ambassador tried to kill US hunt for AWB bribes

Sydney Morning Herald
Revealed: ambassador tried to kill US hunt for AWB bribes
By Michael Gawenda, Herald Correspondent in Washington and Marian Wilkinson
February 1, 2006

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-ambassador-tried-to-kill-us-hunt-for-awb-bribes/2006/01/31/1138590504798.html

THE Australian ambassador to the United States lobbied Congress to drop an investigation into allegations that Australia's wheat exporter paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime.

The Federal Government confirmed last night that the then ambassador, Michael Thawley, met the chairman of a US Senate investigations committee in late 2004 to head off the planned inquiry.

The AWB investigation was ultimately dropped, despite the US Government having information that an AWB wheat contract might have been inflated to cover kickbacks to Iraq. This information included a report, seen by the Herald, from the US Defence Contract Audit Agency.

Mr Thawley met Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate permanent sub-committee on investigations, in the weeks before the Australian general election on October 9, 2004.

Senator Coleman didn't seem to have a problem with going after Mr. Galloway!!!!

it's one of the biggest breaches of the Oil-for-food deal.

This thing seems to be circling John Howard's government - it's a definite possibility that one of his senior ministers will bite the dust over this thing...

It is understood a Senate sub-committee did not pursue the AWB investigation in the face of the fierce resistance of AWB.

Mr Thawley met Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate permanent sub-committee on investigations, in the weeks before the Australian general election on October 9, 2004.

A statement to the Herald last night from the office of the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, confirmed Mr Thawley "argued strongly" to Senator Coleman for AWB's case, which was to block a US Senate inquiry.

"The Government was very concerned that because of the strong campaign by American wheat interests, the Senate committee would be used by those interests to damage Australia's wheat interests with Iraq," the statement said.

....Senator Coleman's committee at the time was launching investigations into several companies and individuals accused of paying kickbacks to Iraq in return for lucrative oil, food and equipment contracts. With the information that AWB may have been paying such kickbacks, the committee began negotiating with the company's US lawyers to obtain internal company documents.

It is understood there was a series of meetings in the second half of 2004 between Senate staffers and AWB lawyers, who argued that Senator Coleman's committee had no jurisdiction to investigate the wheat exporter.

Ambassador lobbied US over AWB: Downer

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has confirmed the Australian Ambassador to the United States made representations to a US Senate committee in 2004 expressing concerns about the committee's focus on AWB in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. In a statement, the Minister says the Government was very concerned that a strong campaign by American wheat interests would use the committee to damage Australia's wheat trade with Iraq.

The Cole inquiry into the wheat scandal has heard the Australian wheat exporter, AWB, paid almost $300 million in kickbacks to the old Iraqi regime. Mr Downer says the Government had no reason to believe other than that AWB Limited was behaving properly.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd has called the Ambassador's meeting with the US Senate committee disgusting. "This is an extraordinary new development and John Howard now has no alternative but to widen Commissioner Cole's powers, his terms of reference, to reach findings not just about the AWB but also about the Howard Government," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1559372.htm

On a mission: the powerful diplomat who was Howard's man in Washington
Email Print Normal font Large font By Marian Wilkinson
February 1, 2006

~snip~
In 2004 the Government was facing an election in the aftermath of its support for the US over the Iraq War. Mr Howard had backed the invasion to remove what he called the dangerous and corrupt regime of Saddam Hussein.

Now several US senators wanted to investigate the relationship of AWB with that regime. The US wheat industry was complaining loudly that AWB had been paying kickbacks.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Coleman was making his name with his investigation into the kickbacks paid to Saddam under the oil-for-food program. Indeed, he had been so successful the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, was forced to set up an investigation under Paul Volcker.

All this was bad news for AWB and the Government in the lead-up to the election. The Senate investigators had been meeting AWB and Australian officials through September and October, threatening to go public with its investigation. AWB was resisting and so was Canberra.

The Government's response was the same as it had been since allegations began began in 1999. It relied on AWB's assurances that everything was above board.

And it sent Mr Thawley to lobby Senator Coleman's committee to drop its inquiries. Whatever was said, it seems Mr Thawley was successful and the committee did not expose AWB or embarrass the Prime Minister.
(snip/)

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/on-a-mission-the-powerful-diplomat-who-was-howards-man-inwashington/2006/01/31/1138590504880.html