"Let's get a few basic facts clear. The UN Volcker inquiry into the oil-for-food program found that 2250 companies from 66 countries paid commissions to Saddam Hussein's government as part of the program."
Why on earth has this level of detail on the real environment in which AWB paid commission to Iraq been ignored by the blanket media coverage until now? Shock jock Allan Jones was lauding Sheridan's comments on the Today Show yesterday, and I'm inclined to agree. We have levelled immense criticism and greatly weakened an important Australian company for simply competing on a level playing field where paying commissions were an unfortunate fact of life.
The criticism would be fair if AWB was the only or at least one of a small number of offenders. When 2250 companies are found to have paid commissions, the finger needs to be pointed in the direction of those responsible for the oil for food program, not the 2250 companies. The UN set up and was responsible for an imperfect program that encouraged corruption and delivered significant funds into Saddam's coffers.
This has been a self - defeating effort that has seen a strategically important (and internationally successful) Australian company almost destroyed, and Australian interests harmed. I am interested to see how many of the 2249 companies from the other 65 nations have been subjected to the same 'witch hunt' that we have seen in the Australian media and Cole report...
The real culprit here is the UN - which could have chosen to act as the middle man between companies and Iraq, but instead set up and presided over a greatly corrupted system that propped up a dictator.
1 comment:
The SMH article 'Against the grain' contains some further insights into the damage done to AWB;
"The retrenchments ... coming on top of the embarrassing drama played on the public stage, have sent staff morale to an all-time low at AWB's new Latrobe Street offices.
AWB's share price is even lower. At its last close of $2.81, it is the worst performing stock in the ASX 200 index this year, having fallen more than 60 per cent. On Friday, the company dropped out of the top 100."
why on earth was the criticism not levelled where it was really deserved? This was a UN driven failure on every level.
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