Bribe findings plough rocky path ahead

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

AWB faces tough times following the report's damning findings

All eyes in Australia are on the so-called "dirty dozen" - the wheat company executives who may face prosecution over the Iraqi bribery scandal.

As expected the long-running Cole inquiry has cleared the government and civil servants of any involvement in sanction-busting payments funnelled by the Australian Wheat Board (now known as AWB) to Saddam Hussein.

The inquiry found that some $200m in kickbacks were paid between 1999 and 2003 to secure lucrative contracts under the UN's now discredited oil-for-food programme.

The 2,000-page report by retired judge Terence Cole said AWB had engaged in a "deliberate policy of deceit".

There are still very serious, lingering questions about precisely what government officials knew throughout this whole period Dr Ben Saul University of New South Wales

A taskforce of corporate and police investigators will probe the activities of 11 former AWB managers and an oil businessman who could be charged with criminal and civil offences.

These could well be catastrophic times for AWB.

Its position as Australia's monopoly wheat exporter is under threat and its share price has taken a dramatic tumble.

Disgruntled investors plan to take legal action against the company to recoup losses.

'Unanswered questions'

This gloomy outlook is a million miles from the mood of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

The veteran leader has insisted the Cole inquiry has proved that senior ministers who testified before the commission were honest and had nothing to hide.

John Howard's approach to the scandal has won US praise

The Sydney Morning Herald said the report was "an emphatic political victory" for Mr Howard.

However, critics believe that the inquiry's terms of reference - set out by the prime minister - were far too narrow and did not allow the commissioner to look at the behaviour and competence of ministers.

Terence Cole's job was to determine if any laws were broken.

"What this means for the government is that there are still very serious, lingering questions about precisely what government officials knew throughout this whole period," said Dr Ben Saul from the University of New South Wales.

"It's not the question he (Cole) was really investigating so there are still a whole series of unanswered questions here."

Senior government figures - including Foreign Minister Alexander Downer - have denied reading or receiving diplomatic cables several years ago that warned that AWB might have been involved in corruption.

"The key issue here is why the Australian government and why the Department of Foreign Affairs - despite all of the warnings that were coming from a number of independent sources - why they failed to take those claims seriously and investigate them properly," Dr Saul explained to the BBC.

Differing views

The US government though has praised John Howard's approach to the oil-for-food scandal.

"I appreciate the Australian Government's commitment to a thorough, independent and transparent inquiry of allegations against AWB Limited," said US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

It's been an open inquiry. I don't there's anything underhand about it and I believe Mr Howard Debbie Moore

Opinion in the press here has fluctuated.

The Australian newspaper tells its readers that while "Cole's dirty dozen face jail", the conservative government is by "no means off the hook".

Its editorial has this damning indictment of John Howard: "The AWB scandal has its roots deep in the Australian government and its bureaucracy."

Sydney's Daily Telegraph insists that the Howard government has been telling the truth.

"The report makes it abundantly clear (that) the government was not involved in any connivance with the AWB and was not aware of possibly criminal misconduct by some members of the AWB's staff and executive," the paper says.

Voters will have their chance to make their judgement in a federal election due next year.

Stephen Speriou from Perth said the AWB affair would influence his decision at the ballot box.

"There's been something corrupt going on involving the government," he told the BBC News website.

"I'm sure there's something sinister happening there and it will definitely have an impact on the way I vote," he insisted.

Another voter, Debbie Moore from Bondi, had a very different view. "I think the government has been honest," she said. "It's been an open inquiry. I don't there's anything underhand about it and I believe Mr Howard."

Several countries - including France, Sweden and India - are investigating companies or individuals allegedly involved in the oil-for-food scandal.