Friday 8th of November 2024
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cossie passes new awstralyan inglish test .....

cossie passes new awstralyan inglish test .....

 

from the lovely ABC

Costello backs tax ruling on AWB

The federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, has defended the Australian Tax Office's (ATO) decision to allow wheat exporter AWB to claim $300 million in kickbacks to Iraq as a tax deduction.

In line with the findings of the Cole inquiry, the tax office has accepted that payments made by AWB under the oil-for-food program do not constitute bribes to foreign public officials.

The ruling means AWB will avoid a multi-million dollar tax bill. Mr Costello says the Cole Inquiry found the AWB kickbacks were not bribes and he backs the ATO's decision.

"Here is my view: there should be no tax deduction for a bribe, that's my view, and that's what we put into the law," Mr Costello said.

"Now I'm sorry, if a court finds or a royal commissioner finds something, whatever my personal view, that's the law."

a familiar stench .....

from the Australian …..

‘The AWB scandal taskforce is looking into whether money sent from the wheat exporter funded terrorist activities in Pakistan and Indonesia.

No formal investigation has been launched but the Australian Federal Police, which is represented on the taskforce, confirmed yesterday that an allegation AWB had made payments to agents in those countries was being assessed.

A spokesman said the taskforce was "assessing all information that came out of the Cole inquiry" into AWB's corruption of the UN oil-for-food program.

AWB, which once held a monopoly over the export of Australian wheat, was primarily accused of sending money to the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but there were unsourced allegations that agents may have made payments to officials in Pakistan and Indonesia.’

Terrorism Query Over AWB Cash

record fully franked...

Rains drive AWB profit boost

Posted 51 minutes ago

Wheat exporter AWB says good rains have boosted grain and livestock production, more than doubling after tax profit for 2008.

Net profit increased 137 per cent to just over $64 million, driven by record sales of farm merchandise and fertiliser.

The result is AWB's first annual earnings report since the Government introduced new wheat export marketing arrangements allowing multiple sellers.

Investors will get a final dividend of 9 cents a share, fully franked.

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see toon at top and revisit the saga of AWB bribes (that were only kickbacks) to Saddam. Still, no one is in prison and all involved seem to have found bigbux cushy jobs...