US call for AWB probe (Harkin)

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THE top Democrat on the US Senate Agriculture Committee has called for a probe into Australian wheat exporter AWB's violations of the UN oil for food program, saying the Bush administration had not heeded the concerns of American wheat farmers.

Senator Tom Harkin, of Iowa, wrote to the US Agriculture Department Inspector General seeking an independent review after letters to US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and US Trade Representative Rob Portman earlier this year failed to produce any action, a spokesman for Harkin's office said.

“AWB's kickbacks lined the pockets of Saddam Hussein and continued after the fall of his government. That money should have gone to feed hungry Iraqis through the UN oil for food program,” Senator Harkin said. “We need to find out who benefited from these kickbacks and whether there's a way to recover the funds and return them to the Iraqi people.”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19240189-1702,00.html