Australian Prime Minister John Howard agreed yesterday to testify at an inquiry into sanctions-busting bribes paid to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime as his government was dragged deeper into a growing scandal.
The inquiry is investigating the payment by the national wheat exporter, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), of US$220 million in kickbacks to obtain US$2.3 billion in contracts under the UN's oil-for-food program.
Howard's revelation that he had been asked to provide a written statement to former judge Terence Cole, who is presiding over the inquiry, came on the day Trade Minister Mark Vaile appeared before it.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is due to follow Vaile into the witness box today. They are the first senior ministers to be called to account by a commission of inquiry in more than 20 years.
Howard said he would also be prepared to appear personally if asked to do so. Senior counsel assisting the inquiry, John Agius, said the prime minister could appear as soon as Thursday.
Howard would be the first prime minister to appear at such an inquiry since 1983.
The inquiry has heard evidence that the government was warned repeatedly that AWB was paying huge bribes to Baghdad for years before Australia joined the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam.
The opposition Labor Party has accused the government of helping fund Iraq's purchases of weapons which were later turned on coalition troops.
Vaile, who is also deputy prime minister, said he was not told about the kickbacks until March 30, 2004, when the UN announced an inquiry into corruption in its oil-for-food program.
Vaile said he did not know about 21 cables warning of possible AWB corruption but did hear of one message, dated Jan. 13, sent by Bronte Moules, an officer at Australia's permanent UN mission in New York, to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which alerted officials to possible wrongdoing by the AWB.
But Vaile said he believed officials were dealing with it.
Another message dated March 11, 2000, to his department from Australia's trade commissioner in Washington Alistair Nicholas, urged officials in Canberra to alert Vaile to possible corruption.
Asked if he should have been shown the cable, Vaile replied: "In the context of this inquiry, when we came across the cable and when I read the cable ... I must admit I was surprised that it hadn't been brought to my attention."
A senior UN official who vetted the oil-for-food contracts with Iraq, Felicity Johnston, said she had warned Australian officials six years ago that AWB might be breaching sanctions. Johnston told the Australian Broadcasting Corp the ministers had a responsibility under international law to ensure their nationals complied with UN sanctions.
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