AWB revisited
Well, it's interesting that the class action of AWB shareholders has finally got to court [see my post from Sept 29 2006], and what is the first revelation?
According to The Australian on Thursday 11th February, AWB has admitted for the first time it knew it was paying 'transport fees' that would end up with Saddam Hussein's regime.... according to court documents released yesterday, AWB says it knew the payments being made to the Jordanian trucking company, Alia, were then being forwarded to an Iraqi company, the Iraqi State Company for Water Transport.
In a further stunning revelation [according to The Australian 12th Feb] "AWB executives were untroubled by the idea they were funnelling money to Saddam Hussein's regime, and the company showed a "lack of internal reflection and soul-searching" about its business dealings with the Iraqi government"
On the second day of his opening address, on behalf of a shareholder class action against AWB, John Sheahan SC told the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday it was remarkable how executives from the Australian company would "blandly" discuss deliberately disguising payments to Jordanian trucking company Alia as business transactions.
Not only does this clearly imply deceptive conduct and unconscionable behaviour on behalf of the AWB, but it also implies complete incompetence or deception on a massive scale by the then Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who of course denied any knowledge of this at the time. What an appalling legacy for both him and the Howard Government!
A
According to The Australian on Thursday 11th February, AWB has admitted for the first time it knew it was paying 'transport fees' that would end up with Saddam Hussein's regime.... according to court documents released yesterday, AWB says it knew the payments being made to the Jordanian trucking company, Alia, were then being forwarded to an Iraqi company, the Iraqi State Company for Water Transport.
In a further stunning revelation [according to The Australian 12th Feb] "AWB executives were untroubled by the idea they were funnelling money to Saddam Hussein's regime, and the company showed a "lack of internal reflection and soul-searching" about its business dealings with the Iraqi government"
On the second day of his opening address, on behalf of a shareholder class action against AWB, John Sheahan SC told the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday it was remarkable how executives from the Australian company would "blandly" discuss deliberately disguising payments to Jordanian trucking company Alia as business transactions.
Not only does this clearly imply deceptive conduct and unconscionable behaviour on behalf of the AWB, but it also implies complete incompetence or deception on a massive scale by the then Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who of course denied any knowledge of this at the time. What an appalling legacy for both him and the Howard Government!
A
posted by Crema-editor at 7:58 PM
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