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Democracy Links
Member's Off-site Blogs
at least the receptionist appeared helpful .....
Cole questions AWB's document
compliance …..
The oil-for-food Commissioner
Terence Cole says he is not fully satisfied that AWB has handed over all
the documents that his inquiry has demanded.
Commissioner Cole is heading the
inquiry investigating almost $300 million worth of payments made by wheat
exporter AWB to the former Iraqi regime in contravention of UN sanctions
against Iraq.
He has also revealed that the grain
trader's claim to withhold documents on the grounds of legal privilege
covers more than 1,200 bundles of documents.
AWB has told the inquiry it will
ask the Federal Court to determine whether its claim is valid.
Legislation to give that power to
Commonwealth inquiries has been introduced into Federal Parliament, and
may become law within a fortnight.
- By Gus Leonisky at 30 May 2006 - 5:49pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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May we not help you?
From the Sydney Morning Herald
AWB vows long legal fight to keep files secret
David Marr
May 31, 2006
AWB has signalled it will fight to the finish to keep its most tightly guarded secrets from the Cole inquiry.
The grains trader went to the Federal Court yesterday to head off legislation being rushed through Federal Parliament allowing the commissioner Terence Cole, QC, to read a cache of documents AWB has been withholding from him for some months.
The documents are from internal inquiries at AWB into the kickbacks paid to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. They are expected to reveal in detail who in upper management and on the board of the company knew about the kickbacks. The company has denied the documents to the inquiry on grounds of legal professional privilege.
The long-running struggle over documents between AWB and the inquiry was brought into the open yesterday when Mr Cole revealed he was not yet satisfied the company had "fully responded" to 14 formal requests for documents over the last five months.
Read more at the SMH
__________________________
a full & transparent inquiry .....
No surprises here Gus ....
What's the bet that the offending documents are wrapped in fishnets & covered in rodent droppings as well?
No wonder Iraq won't buy our wheat.
More fodder from clowner
From our ABC
Nothing new in official's AWB notes, Downer says
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has denied notes given to the Cole inquiry show the Federal Government was warned about AWB's involvement in the oil-for-food scandal.
The Opposition says a senior foreign affairs official, who headed up the Government's Iraq task force, took detailed notes about the problem several years ago.
Those notes have been handed over to the Cole inquiry.
Mr Downer says he never saw the notes and they were taken after the Government was informed about the scandal in March 2004.
He says the information is not new and was freely handed over to the inquiry by the Government.
"That's all on the public record," he said.
"To pretend that there is something new or exciting or that this is news, if I may say so, it's a desperate Opposition."
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says the Government cannot keep pretending it did not know.
"Before this, Mr Downer has received 21 sets of cabled warnings, together with Mr Vaile and some of them to the Prime Minister Mr Howard as well," he said.
"All of those were ignored, the Government turned a blind eye."