Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told an official inquiry yesterday he knew nothing about huge kickbacks paid to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government despite 21 diplomatic warnings which were sent to his office.
Downer was the second minister after Trade Minister Mark Vaile on Monday to appear before the commission of inquiry into the bribes. He may be followed into the witness box later this week by Prime Minister John Howard.
The probe into national wheat exporter AWB's huge sanctions-busting bribes was the first time Australia's longest serving foreign minister has faced such a public grilling in his 10 years in the job.
Downer avoided a huge media contingent awaiting his arrival at the inquiry by slipping in through a side door.
Giving evidence, Downer displayed none of the scorn he has heaped on opposition politicians demanding answers about the US$220 million in sweeteners AWB paid to Iraq. Instead he slumped slightly in his chair and occasionally chewed his lip as he concentrated on questions.
In a written statement released to coincide with his appearance, Downer said he did not know the kickbacks were being paid through a Jordanian trucking company, Alia, which was partly owned by Saddam's regime.
"My recollection is that I did not know and was not otherwise aware at any time during the period from about 1999 to 2003 anything about Alia," he said.
Downer said he did not know "that money paid by AWB to Alia or any other Jordanian trucking company was paid, whether advertently or inadvertently on the part of AWB, to the Iraqis."
Downer denied knowledge of 21 diplomatic cables which were sent to his office warning about possible problems with AWB's practices in Iraq.
He said the cables had been assessed by his office and many were not thought worthy of bringing to his attention.
In his written statement, Downer used the phrase "I do not have a specific recollection of having received or read this cable or of it otherwise being brought my attention" 19 times in relation to the 21 cables. He repeated the phrase with slight variations more than 30 times while testifying, admitting "no one's memory is perfect."
He defended his department's failure to investigate warning signs that AWB was paying kickbacks, saying he believed that the UN was vetting the contracts and that his department did not have the power or expertise to act.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
RSS