World Grain - December 2005 - 10

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AWB employees investigated
in oil-for-food scandal
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Employees of the Australian Wheat Board (AWB)
could face up to 10 years in jail if a court finds
they knowingly paid kickbacks to Saddam
Hussein's former regime as part of the corruption now found to have riddled the United
Nations' (UN) oil-for-food program in Iraq.

alties are jail for 10 years or a fine of up to
U.S.$66,000, or both.
The Melbourne-based AWB has maintained it did not believe the payments were for
anything other than inland transport of grain.
Meanwhile, Australia's U.S.$800 million
wheat trade with Iraq should not be adversely

Agricultural losses from
earthquake in Pakistan total more
than U.S.$440 million
ROME, ITALY - Direct and indirect losses
to crops, livestock and irrigation infrastructure as a result of the October earthquake in
northern Pakistan total more than U.S.$440
million, according to the findings of an assessment released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations (UN).
TAJIKISTAN
CHINA

NORTHERN AREAS
NORTH-WEST
FRONTIER

FEDERALLY ISLAMABAD
ADMINISTERED CAPITAL
TRIBAL
TERRITORY
AREAS
PUNJAB

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN
BALOCHISTAN
I N D I A
IRAN

Iraqi Minister of Agriculture Ali al-Bahadli, right, said in November that Australia's wheat trade with Iraq
should not be affected despite allegations that employees of the Australian Wheat Board knowingly paid
kickbacks to the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Photo by the Associated Press.
An inquiry has been set up by the Australian government after a UN investigation
found AWB paid U.S.$290 million to a Jordanian company between 1999 and 2003,
which was illegally funneled to the former
Iraqi dictator's government.
A little used federal law passed in 1999
making bribery of foreign officials a criminal offense is likely to be the focus of the
new inquiry. The maximum individual pen10

affected by any fallout from the investigation,
according to Iraq's Agriculture Minister, Ali
al-Bahadli. He met with Australian Agriculture Minister Peter McGauren in mid-November and dismissed the idea of an embargo
on Australian wheat sales to Iraq.
The controversy prompted speculation
that the new Iraqi government could demand
compensation payments before the resumption of wheat sales.

SINDH

The FAO's damage and needs assessments for the agriculture and livestock
sectors in Pakistan-administered Kashmir
and the North West Frontier Province were
presented to the government of Pakistan in
November. The findings will form the basis
for a post-earthquake early recovery plan,
as well as longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction activities.
With a death toll estimated at more than
70,000 as of mid-November, few families
in the earthquake-affected areas escaped
the loss of human life.
Depletion of livestock continues as abandoned animals die and others are sold or
slaughtered in anticipation of the harsh winter or because of lack of fodder and shelter.
Feed and fodder stocks have been either buried under debris or damaged by the heavy
rains that followed the earthquake.
December 2005 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com
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World Grain - December 2005

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