February 05, 2006 THE AWB corruption inquiry will hear evidence from a second company whistleblower this week and may also begin questioning government officials about the Iraq wheat trading scandal.
Former marketing manager Dominic Hogan is expected to face the Cole Commission of Inquiry tomorrow to detail the company's knowledge of $300 million in kickbacks AWB paid to the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein under the UN oil-for-food program.
Mr Hogan worked for the company's Middle East section for a decade until 2003, with his employment covering the years when AWB was still the government-owned Australian Wheat Board.
The inquiry has already heard evidence of his knowledge of kickbacks, including an October 1999 email to colleagues where he discusses his brilliant idea to deal with Iraq's demand that AWB pay an extra $US12 ($A15.95) for every tonne of wheat it shipped to the country.
"The system that will be the most workable would be that AWB create an account in Jordan and transfer funds to this account. From this account we would transfer to a special account nominated by IGB (Iraqi Grain Board) for each vessel," Mr Hogan wrote to colleagues Mark Emons, Darryl Borlase and Graham Owens.
He added that AWB could transfer directly to the Iraqi government-nominated account as long as the link was not apparent that the funds were going to Iraq.
United Nations sanctions in force since the first Gulf War made it illegal to make any direct payments to Iraq.
Mr Hogan's email said other options for payments to Iraq included using maritime agents or buying a very large suitcase.
The Commission is believed to have taken evidence from Mr Hogan during a secret hearing in December.
He will be the second AWB manager-turned-whistleblower to face the inquiry, after former marketing official Mark Emons implicated the company's most senior staff in the affair when he gave evidence on Thursday and Friday.
This week may also see the inquiry take its first evidence from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) staff, though they may not be called as witnesses for another week.
DFAT officers Jane Drake-Brockman, Zena Armstrong and Bronte Moules are expected to be questioned about key warnings about AWB's payments to Iraq which were missed by the department.
The warnings included a memo from the post-war Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in June 2003 which revealed an investigation into kickbacks under UN oil-for-food contracts but did not name AWB.
The memo was given to DFAT by AWB manager Michael Long while he was on the Howard government's payroll as a CPA adviser in Baghdad, but DFAT failed to investigate despite AWB being the biggest single humanitarian supplier under the UN program.
Former AWB chairman Trevor Flugge is not expected to be called as a witness for at least another week.
The inquiry, entering its fourth week, is now expected to run for as long as seven weeks, three weeks longer than expected.
Commissioner Terence Cole is asking for expanded terms of reference to allow further investigation of a murky Iraq wheat deal involving resources giant BHP, but has so far not asked for an extension to his reporting date of March 31.
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