Iraq Rejects Australian Wheat

On Sunday, a senior official with the Grain Board of Iraq told Dow Jones Newswires that it will buy a "good amount" of wheat from the U.S., Canada and Europe in its latest tender.

However, it would not buy Australian grain.

Wilson Tuckey, a former Australian minister, said that this rejection could be because of the kickbacks allegedly paid to Saddam Hussein's regime by AWB the Australian wheat monopoly.

Quote:

"If 300 million (Australian) dollars went to someone who then used it buy ammunition and blow up my people, as a Shiite, I'd be uncomfortable about doing business with them."

Australia is currently conducting an inquiry into whether AWB breached Australian law by paying US$221.7M million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime, during the UN oil-for-food program.

Iraq has suspended dealings with AWB until after the completion of the Australian inquiry, which is scheduled to report to government by March 31.

A clear cut case of what goes around, comes around.

This is a very good lesson for all companies to learn from, that they would be wise to take on board, namely; ensure that all business deals are ethical.