AWB faces action from Iraq widows

TWO Iraqi women whose husbands were killed by Saddam Hussein's regime have launched a class action in an attempt to hold Australian wheat exporter AWB responsible.

TWO Iraqi women whose husbands were killed by Saddam Hussein's regime have launched a class action in an attempt to hold Australian wheat exporter AWB responsible.

The women, Saadya Mastafa and Kafia Ismail, claim AWB was complicit in the deaths of their husbands because AWB's kickbacks helped fund Saddam's regime.

The claim says AWB's money funded Iraq's regime "during a period of time when such support and aid was used to commit massive instances of torture (including) the unlawful killings of the husbands and members of their class".

The action comes as Iraq agreed in principle to resume trade with Australia, following intervention last week by the Australian Government.

Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul Falah al-Sudani said the Iraqi Grains Board had "started talks with senior government officials to purchase Australian wheat" after a meeting in Baghdad with the Australian ambassador to Iraq.

A deal to sell a "substantial amount" of wheat to Iraq is expected to be announced shortly.

AWB last year conceded that $290 million it paid in trucking fees to a Jordanian company called Alia were in fact funnelled to Saddam's regime, in breach of the UN oil-for-food program.

AWB was the largest single supplier of illicit funds to Saddam's regime under the program. Possible criminal charges against several former officers of AWB are pending.

The lawsuit is the forth to be lodged against AWB. It is facing a shareholder class action in Australia; a class action by Iraqis in northern Iraq; and a suit on behalf of wheat farmers in Kansas, who claim that AWB's kickbacks kept them out of the Iraq market.

The latest suit says AWB should be held responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, and "other human rights abuses".

The action has been taken in the Southern District court of New York. It says a manager of AWB's New York office knowingly participated in the illegal payment scheme "which served to aid and abet the torture and murder" of the two women's spouses.

The action has been taken against AWB and AWB (USA). It also names French bank BNP Paribas, which handled Iraq's oil-for-food account.

A spokesman for AWB said the company would "vigorously defend its position".