Howard regime 'may not yet be free' of oil-for-food scam

Canberra: Former executives' likely trials and further US Congressional inquiries mean the Australian government may not yet be free of a scandal over wheat export kickbacks to Iraq's former dictatorship, analysts said yesterday.

Former Judge Terence Cole said on Monday he found no evidence of government officials' wrongdoing in his months-long investigation into the kickbacks, but recommended police investigate 11 former executives from AWB Ltd - Australia's monopoly wheat exporter - and a 12th from another company.

Prime Minister John Howard welcomed the government-commissioned report as vindication of his administration's role in what the opposition Labor Party described as the worst scandal in the Australian federal government's 105-year history.

Cole found executives of the wheat exporter, formerly the state-owned Australian Wheat Board, had hidden from the UN and Australian government about $220 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussain's regime.

However, Cole made no adverse finding against the government over repeated e-mail warnings to officials that AWB's activities may have breached UN sanctions against Iraq.

Opinion polls during Cole's inquiry did not indicate the scandal was harming Howard's centre-right government.