Describing a system of kickbacks for contracts within the Australian Wheat Board when it was still under government control in the 1990s and after it was privatised in 1999 to become AWB, one former employee with direct knowledge of the payments said bluntly,
AWB managing director, Andrew Lindberg said the company was "forced" to deal with regimes in the Middle East and other developing markets because of the "unfair [farm] subsidy regime" in the US, EU and Japan.
"We deal with regimes as best we can: we try to understand and observe the customs of each country in which we operate. We have a code of conduct and we ensure that it's followed," he said.In Indonesia, under President Soeharto, the AWB paid a special rebate on its wheat contracts to the Bogasari Flour Mills. The company was controlled at the time by a close friend of Soeharto and the rebate was paid into an offshore account that avoided government taxes and charges.
"...a was a deal that would not have reached Australian business practice standards"It was a deal that "would not have reached Australian business practice standards", said one former AWB employee.
Pakistani and Indonesian kickbacks were reviewed in 2000 after the Government passed new laws making it a criminal offence to bribe foreign officials anywhere in the world to win or retain business. AWB held internal meetings with a law firm and the anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, to brief employees on the anti-bribery laws.
The Australian government has established a judicial inquiry to look probe three local companies cited in the Volker report, including AWB. In the process they have attempted to insulate ‘government ministers, their staff and public servants,’ from the scope of the inquiry.
These latest allegations drop the government, including Trade Minister, Mark Vaile and his department, right into the thick of it. If there were doubts previously, and this correspondent certainly canvassed doubts, the inevitable leaks are destined to disavow them.
The actions of Vaile and his Trade officers must come under the scope of the judicial inquiry. They can no longer simply hang the board and management out to dry. Documents already show that US authorities were aware of the Iraq allegations back in 2002. You can bet they were quick to take their Australian counterparts to task at that time.
In fact, the collusion and deal making goes right to the US administration, but you can bet that they won’t submit to any investigation. The UN is also cited, by AWB officials, as implicit in some way, in at least turning a blind eye to the alleged illicit payments. But again, the UN is in no hurry to investigate their own.
What is developing is a sordid picture of carving up lucrative international trade markets, dealing these ‘murky’ markets out to Australia, and then blindly accepting the unethical activities which accompany the shitty end of the stick.
That was until Iraq became a more acceptable market for US wheat traders. That is when the US lobby screamed for their share, in the process, outing the AWB’s shady dealings. Everyone who mattered knew. This, it seems, will emerge as a sick reality of international trade. For all that laws might be enacted to curb corruption in International trade, as many meetings the ‘oh so respectable’ developed nations lead on teaching ethical behaviour to our disadvantaged neighbours, the stench of corruption is entrenched in the system.
To Paraphrase:
"The culture of the trade is: get the job done."While in Australia, and discussing duplicity: Reports reveal, that while forcing draconian anti-terrorism laws onto the hapless people of that country, the government has actually allowed Oday Al Tekriti, a former Saddam henchman, to settle peacefully in an Australian suburb.
Prime Minister has now called on the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, to tell him of "any further options" available for handling the case of Saddam Hussein's former bodyguard, who is living in Australia on a temporary protection visa.
No doubt, having drawn the short straw with the US and UK, to harbour this criminal, for reasons we can only guess at, the PM now must see the difficulties the disclosure poses for his new laws.
I’m not sure why the governments of the UK, US and Australia even bother with the window dressing of anti terrorism laws. Their respective populations seem to be suitably gullible and cowering already. Totally gullible if the accept that ‘the butcher’s apprentice’ can quietly be accommodated in a coalition country while the high farce in Iraq and elsewhere continues.
2 comments:
I didn't know about Tekriti.
Mike
What’s in a name…
Oday Adnan Al Tikriti, who arrived in Australia illegally six years ago, was initially refused a visa by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) amid fears he had committed crimes against humanity in Iraq.
Note: the Australian media spell the name variously as; Tekriti or Tikriti.
He admits to being part of Hussein's household security team but denies he was a key player in the brutal regime.
Reports say he may have been given safe haven in Australia because he is an informant of its intelligence agencies, an academic specialising in the history of ASIO says.
"I see him as a valuable asset to intelligence organisations such as ASIO because of his closeness to the dictator. He would be a valuable person in their eyes," said Frank Cain, a senior lecturer in history at the University of NSW.
Al Tikriti is a relative of Saddam and a former major in his security detail, he also worked for Saddam's son Qusay tracking down dissidents.
"This unit [the presidential Guard] is always headed by Saddam's immediate family, and is the only unit which has armed men in the direct proximity of the President, serving as bodyguards," says a guide to Saddam's security and intelligence network, written by Ibrahim al-Marashi and published in the Middle East Review of International Affairs in September 2002.
The CIA described the Presidential Guard as "the first tier of security closest to Saddam" in a report dated September 30, 2004. It was made up of two groups, one providing protection and the other providing day-to-day care.
"The Special Protection was with the President 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide personal security," the CIA said.
The Presidential Guard was controlled by Special Security, the country's most powerful security agency. Saddam's younger son and likely successor, Qusay, headed this agency from 1992 onwards.
Many Saddam loyalists hail from his tribe, centered in the northern town of Tikrit, and carry the al-Tikriti. Indeed, the man himself is sometimes known as Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti.
We have:
* Barzan al-Tikriti Saddam Hussein's half-brother, who is on trial in Baghdad with the former dictator. He was head of Iraqi foreign intelligence (Mukhabarat) and former representative to the UN. Also, adviser to the President with Cabinet rank.
* Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti; No. 4 on the original U.S. most-wanted list of Iraqi leaders, behind only Saddam and his sons Qusai and Odai. U.S. officials said Mahmud had detailed knowledge of Saddam's personal security arrangements and Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
* Hamid Raja Shalah al-Tikriti was number 17 of the U.S. list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and Saddam's personal secretary
* Brothers Hani Abd al-Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti and Rafi Abd al-Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti were being sought, according to reports.
Well that's all clear as mud.
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