Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I have been savaged by a sheep. My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the statement of the Prime Minister on 30 January 2006 when he said in relation to the AWB’s dealings with Saddam Hussein’s regime: ‘We had no suspicion, no suggestion there’d been any bribes paid. There were no alarm bells.’ Why did the Prime Minister make that statement when his government received this cable dated 13 January 2000 which contained the following warnings from the UN office for the Iraq program: first, the Iraqis were demanding a surcharge of $US14 per metric tonne for wheat, which would be paid outside the oil for food program; second, the funds were to provided into a bank account in Jordan; third, the system was designed to provide illegal revenue for Iraq in US dollars; fourth, the UN believed the company involved in the scheme was owned by the son of Saddam Hussein; and, fifth, the AWB had concluded contracts of a similar nature to this with the Iraqi regime?

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