Milo Minderbinder bombs own wheat trucks
No questions asked by AWB
Caroline Overington
November 03, 2005
THE nation's monopoly wheat exporter paid more than $290 million in "transport fees" to one of Saddam Hussein's front companies without ever asking what the money was for, or where it was going.
Othman Al-Absi, managing director of the Jordanian trucking company that funnelled the cash from AWB to Saddam's regime, told The Australian yesterday that AWB agreed to pay the fees because "the Iraqi government told them to pay it".
"The Iraqi government told the AWB in 1999 that it should pay these fees for the wheat it was selling under the oil-for-food program," he said.
"The contract was not with us, it was between Iraq and the AWB. We were just to collect the fee. We got into contact with AWB, and we signed a letter of agreement, and we collected the fee.
"It was all quite normal. We put the money into a normal bank in Jordan. We kept a small percentage, and the rest we gave back to the government of Iraq. We had a contract with them, to do that." UN investigators say the fees paid to the Jordanian company, Alia, were not for transportation but were kickbacks to Saddam's regime.
AWB, the former Australian Wheat Board, admits making the payments but says it did not know Alia was a front for the Iraqi government.
Mr Al-Absi agreed that his company did not move Australian wheat around Iraq. "We just collected the fee for Iraq," he said.
He said Alia was not a "front company" but a legitimate business, established by a well-known Iraqi businessman. "We have sea-going vessels and aircraft," he said. "We have trucks."
But did those trucks ever move Australian wheat? "No," he said.
He said he could not be sure who in AWB approved the deal because it was not between his company and AWB but between AWB and the Iraqi government.
AWB yesterday refused to say who had been involved in negotiations. At the time of the transactions, the AWB chairman was Trevor Flugge, a wheat farmer from Western Australia.
Mr Flugge has told a UN inquiry into the scandal that he was aware that the AWB contracts from 1999 included an "inland transportation component" but insists that he did not know that these fees were being sent to Saddam's regime. He told The Australian yesterday he had "absolutely nothing to say about this matter".
The fees to Alia were never displayed in AWB contracts given to the UN for approval. And it is not clear if the fees were ever mentioned to other board members.
Mr Al-Absi said he believed he had met Mr Flugge but did not say that he was involved in making the deal.
"The deal was not with us, it was with Iraq," he said.
He said AWB "never asked" anybody in his company where the money was going. "They were told they needed to enter into this agreement and so they did," he said.
Mr Al-Absi said he did not regard the deal as illegal.
"It was a legal activity," he said. "The Government of Iraq, it was a real government. There was no rule saying you can't do it.
"In all the world, this agreement is normal. What we did is all official.
"We put the money in a normal, legal bank in Jordan. There was nothing secret and we did not do anything illegal. They (the Iraqi Government) told us this was approved by the UN."
Mr Al-Absi said he had travelled from Jordan to New York to give evidence about Alia's role in the oil-for-food program, but when contacted by The Australian he had not actually seen Paul Volcker's final report into the scandal, released on Friday.
"I gave them all the information that they like to know," he said. "(But) before I went to New York to testify, actually, I am sure they decided that they would blame somebody else.
"The problem for them is that these contracts were approved by the UN and so now they are saying the program was corrupt. They do not want that to be the fault of the UN."
Mr Volcker, the UN investigator, has suggested that AWB employees should have known that Iraq was benefiting from the deal with Alia, especially since the price for "transportation" increased from about $US12 a tonne to about $US50.
But Mr Al-Absi said the price increased "depend(ing) on the situation".
"Some time after the war, the price was up to $US60, because the US had been bombing or whatever. The price, it's different depending on the situation."
He said it wasn't only AWB that paid his company to do business in Iraq.
"There were 400 companies making payments," he said. "It was all quite normal." END
' Normal'...Yeah Right...like Pig Iron Bob's efforts and Milo M's.
Caroline Overington
November 03, 2005
THE nation's monopoly wheat exporter paid more than $290 million in "transport fees" to one of Saddam Hussein's front companies without ever asking what the money was for, or where it was going.
Othman Al-Absi, managing director of the Jordanian trucking company that funnelled the cash from AWB to Saddam's regime, told The Australian yesterday that AWB agreed to pay the fees because "the Iraqi government told them to pay it".
"The Iraqi government told the AWB in 1999 that it should pay these fees for the wheat it was selling under the oil-for-food program," he said.
"The contract was not with us, it was between Iraq and the AWB. We were just to collect the fee. We got into contact with AWB, and we signed a letter of agreement, and we collected the fee.
"It was all quite normal. We put the money into a normal bank in Jordan. We kept a small percentage, and the rest we gave back to the government of Iraq. We had a contract with them, to do that." UN investigators say the fees paid to the Jordanian company, Alia, were not for transportation but were kickbacks to Saddam's regime.
AWB, the former Australian Wheat Board, admits making the payments but says it did not know Alia was a front for the Iraqi government.
Mr Al-Absi agreed that his company did not move Australian wheat around Iraq. "We just collected the fee for Iraq," he said.
He said Alia was not a "front company" but a legitimate business, established by a well-known Iraqi businessman. "We have sea-going vessels and aircraft," he said. "We have trucks."
But did those trucks ever move Australian wheat? "No," he said.
He said he could not be sure who in AWB approved the deal because it was not between his company and AWB but between AWB and the Iraqi government.
AWB yesterday refused to say who had been involved in negotiations. At the time of the transactions, the AWB chairman was Trevor Flugge, a wheat farmer from Western Australia.
Mr Flugge has told a UN inquiry into the scandal that he was aware that the AWB contracts from 1999 included an "inland transportation component" but insists that he did not know that these fees were being sent to Saddam's regime. He told The Australian yesterday he had "absolutely nothing to say about this matter".
The fees to Alia were never displayed in AWB contracts given to the UN for approval. And it is not clear if the fees were ever mentioned to other board members.
Mr Al-Absi said he believed he had met Mr Flugge but did not say that he was involved in making the deal.
"The deal was not with us, it was with Iraq," he said.
He said AWB "never asked" anybody in his company where the money was going. "They were told they needed to enter into this agreement and so they did," he said.
Mr Al-Absi said he did not regard the deal as illegal.
"It was a legal activity," he said. "The Government of Iraq, it was a real government. There was no rule saying you can't do it.
"In all the world, this agreement is normal. What we did is all official.
"We put the money in a normal, legal bank in Jordan. There was nothing secret and we did not do anything illegal. They (the Iraqi Government) told us this was approved by the UN."
Mr Al-Absi said he had travelled from Jordan to New York to give evidence about Alia's role in the oil-for-food program, but when contacted by The Australian he had not actually seen Paul Volcker's final report into the scandal, released on Friday.
"I gave them all the information that they like to know," he said. "(But) before I went to New York to testify, actually, I am sure they decided that they would blame somebody else.
"The problem for them is that these contracts were approved by the UN and so now they are saying the program was corrupt. They do not want that to be the fault of the UN."
Mr Volcker, the UN investigator, has suggested that AWB employees should have known that Iraq was benefiting from the deal with Alia, especially since the price for "transportation" increased from about $US12 a tonne to about $US50.
But Mr Al-Absi said the price increased "depend(ing) on the situation".
"Some time after the war, the price was up to $US60, because the US had been bombing or whatever. The price, it's different depending on the situation."
He said it wasn't only AWB that paid his company to do business in Iraq.
"There were 400 companies making payments," he said. "It was all quite normal." END
' Normal'...Yeah Right...like Pig Iron Bob's efforts and Milo M's.
posted by professor rat at 4:04 AM
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