Oil-for-food probe prompts Iraq to suspend Australia wheat imports News
Oil-for-food probe prompts Iraq to suspend Australia wheat imports

[JURIST] Iraqi officials have suspended business with the Australia Wheat Board (AWB) [corporate website] while an Australian judicial inquiry [Cole Commission website] investigates allegations that AWB paid bribes of up to $300 million to the former government of Saddam Hussein in the oil-for-food scandal [JURIST news archive]. The scandal prompted the resignation of AWB chief executive Andrew Lindbergh [JURIST report] last week, after a document from a former AWB director given to the inquiry revealed the company's connection [JURIST report] to Hussein.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile [official website] has called for the Iraqi Grains Board to reconsider the suspension [AAP report], saying that the Australian government would reassure Iraq that it would take any appropriate action against AWB after the inquiry has released its findings. AFP has more.