Friday 26th of April 2024

files hide fraud on United Nations, says judge .....

A Judge has ordered the country's wheat exporter to hand over hundreds of documents to the Cole inquiry into the oil-for-food scandal, including material suggesting it "deliberately and dishonestly" tried to defraud the United Nations.

The judge found that at least 10 documents that AWB strenuously fought to keep secret were brought into existence apparently for "an improper and dishonest purpose" and designed to "work a trickery" on the UN.

It is expected the order will lead to AWB's lawyers and its former managing director Andrew Lindberg being recalled by Commissioner Terence Cole to face more tough questioning over whether there was a systematic cover-up inside AWB over kickbacks paid to the Iraqi regime.

Many of the documents are expected to be made public at the hearings, which will also further delay Mr Cole's final report, now not expected until November.

bribes discounted of course...

From our good ABC

Gairns [sic] Group calls for new Doha trade talks
The Cairns Group trade summit has ended and the 18 countries involved have called for the Doha trade talks to resume by November this year at the latest.

The ministers have released a communique saying the Doha round cannot be allowed to drift.

Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile says the negotiations must resume in Geneva by November.

"Politically we need to collectively and separately go to work on the major players, who need to show the political negotiating flexibility to try and bridge the gaps that exist," he said.

Single desk
Earlier, WTO director-general Pascal Lamy warned that Australia may need to abolish the single desk for wheat exports.

But Mr Vaile has rejected suggestions that Australia's single desk wheat export system is a defacto export subsidy.

He says there are no trade distorting elements in the single desk