Saturday 20th of April 2024

"International Aspects" Of Australian Bribery Inquiries

As discussed earliear, US Wheat Associates were pondering the
use of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to examine the AWB in both
the America and Australia, as the group had companies in both
countries.  This has left me with a mapof money flow whose geography
has long since vanished under arrows.

I'll take my favourtie
company as an easy example.Until 2003  headquarters of divisions were
scattered across the globe naval in the UK, infrastructure in Australia
etc.  These divisions were registered companies of the nations in which
they resided.  In late2004 the business was reorganiesed.

 Let's say that the infrastructure division was drawing up plans
for rebuildiong oil wells, roadmaking etc.  As the company knew that it
had the work before the invasion, wouldn't it be clever enough to start
work early.  Ar keast have equipment ready and waiting where it was
needed? 

Through its subsidiaries Ingersoll Rand and Dresser Pump, it appears that Saddam Hussein and Dick Cheney used the Oil-for-Food program to trade oilfield equipment.
Under the RIO (Restore Iraqi Oil) contract issued by the Pentagon,
Halliburton already had the reconstruction go-aheead before Australian
SAS troops were violiationg George Bush's deadline.  To paraphrase
Donald Rumsfeld, these are "known knowns".

My question is this-
how much responsibility Halliburton Australia must assume for
"facilitation" paid by the company in Iraq to implement blueprints
created in Adelaide?

I wonder if this might be on of Commissioner Cole's 'internation aspects" ?

One
more question- could parts of facilitation payments have been given
back by Saddam to their organisers as bonuses? What happenned to the
2004 claims by Iraq Governing Councillior Jalal Talabini at aUN news conference  news conference  that "We have a list of cash paid to journalists, personalities, groups and parties," ?

Ooops, another- has the same company now audfiing the AWB had any luck yet with the CPA? Accountancy firm KPMG was complaining two
years ago that the Bush Administration was hindering its investigation
of the implementation of OIl-For-Food money?  After the courtroom
confession of the CPA infrastructure co-ordinator of receiving
cash and sex in a specially prepared villa,  there's yet another Pandora's Box to be opened.


When this is all over, we should be ensuring that contracts received by
the same multinationals involved in Iraq recinstruction to carry out
work in Australia are all "above board"