AWB 'Wheat Cheats' unravelling

There was always going to be some dramatic breakthrough in the Australian Cole inquiry into the crooked dealings of that country’s monopoly wheat exporter AWB.
AWB is under investigation for paying $290 million to Jordanian trucking company Alia, which funneled the money to the Iraqi government.
The senior prosecutor for the inquiry, John Agius has been dogged and meticulous in his examination of ‘wheat cheat’ witnesses.
Often many steps ahead of the witness, Agius nonetheless backtracks and teases at specific questions. He often offers witnesses the opportunity to change their positions, their statements, much to the chagrin of defence lawyers.

Whether it was going to be documents or a live witness was not clear, until former AWB executive Mark Emons took the stand.
His evidence now puts intense pressure on the government; it was their man in Baghdad, Trevor Flugge, who is the link.
Trevor Flugge was Director and then Chairman of the AWB Limited for seventeen years until 2002.
In 2003 Trevor Flugge was appointed by the Howard Government to go to Iraq post-war and help re-establish their agriculture. Flugge is big in the Australian Agribusiness sector, and has a record of a close working relationship with government ministers.
One piece of the jigsaw which emerged in from Emons witness statement:

“It was common practice to speak with Mr Flugge about significant contracts. Mr Flugge was interested in trading generally and the Middle East section in particular.I now cannot recall where or when I spoke to Mr Flugge about trucking fees. I do recall discussing those and related matters with him on a number of occasions. I recall saying in relation words to the effect:

"The contract is subject to UN approval. If that comes through, it's all well and good."I also recall saying to him words to this effect:"We are looking at various methods to facilitate this."It was during those discussions that I refer to, that Mr Flugge said to me words to the following effect:"We have to find a way to pay this money. As long as it's not costing AWB any money, you have to find a method of paying it."

Trevor Flugge’s day in the witness box has been postponed until next month. It has become clear that Commissioner Cole and the prosecuting team are getting weary of the lack of promised cooperation from AWB witnesses.
While Cole voiced his frustration at the inquiry the tactic now seems to be to simply confront witnesses with hard fact. Time will tell if our Trevor is smart enough to just come clean, or risk being dragged through the muck for days.