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Australian senator denies smuggling money into Iraq

A controversial Australian government senator yesterday denied smuggling cash into Iraq on behalf of an oil company hoping to secure contracts, but admitted being present when the money was handed over.

Senator Ross Lightfoot dismissed as "crazy talk" newspaper reports that he smuggled US$20,000 sewn into the lining of his suit jacket into Iraq in January while on an official trip to observe national elections.

The reports in News Ltd. newspapers said Lightfoot, a member of the ruling Liberal-National coalition, was given the money by Australian firm Woodside Petroleum as a donation to a hospital in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq.

Lightfoot threatened legal action against News Ltd., which splashed the story on front pages across the country with a picture of a grinning Lightfoot holding a Kalashnikov rifle and posing with Kurdish militia.

Facing opposition calls for his resignation, Lightfoot made a statement in the Senate denying he acted as a cash courier for Woodside or benefited unduly when he recently sold his shares in the company.

"I have at all times acted honorably and properly in this matter and I reject completely the allegation that I have acted in any way wrongly or out of self-interest," Lightfoot told parliament. He told the Senate he took only 1,000 Australian dollars (US$790) of his own money on the Iraqi trip and had receipts to prove it.

News Ltd. said he boasted to its reporter that he had US$20,000 hidden in his jacket lining but later changed his story when pressed for details.

It is an offense under Australian law to take 10,000 Australian dollars (US$9,200) out of the country without declaring it. The offense carries a penalty of up to two years' jail.

Woodside issued a statement confirming that it had made a US$20,000 donation to the hospital in January but said it had nothing to do with Lightfoot.
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