71 staff saw kickback note

A SECRET cable outlining Iraq's demands for kickbacks was opened by more than 70 officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, according to documents released by the Cole inquiry.

A SECRET cable outlining Iraq's demands for kickbacks was opened by more than 70 officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, according to documents released by the Cole inquiry.

A cable access log - which records who opens top-secret reports and when - shows that a cable dated March 9, 2001, alluding to "kickbacks", was opened by 71 DFAT officers, some of whom even copied it.

The cable was sent to DFAT from Australia's permanent mission to the UN, following a UN meeting at which kickbacks were openly discussed. It said "everybody knows about the kickbacks" Saddam Hussein was demanding from suppliers.

"Iraq has, according to UN officials, begun demanding kickback and illegal commission on contracts for humanitarian supplies," the cable says. "We asked the Norwegian mission (whose permanent representative chairs the UN sanctions committee) if and how the committee intended to address this issue.

"Norway said that although everybody knows about the kickbacks, given the lack of hard evidence it was difficult to address the issue directly."

The cable was sent to DFAT, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Defence Department, and marked for the information of the Prime Minister, the Trade Minister, Austrade, the Foreign Minister and the Defence Minister.

The Cole inquiry is due to hand down its report on November 24. Terence Cole is likely to recommend that charges be laid against AWB executives involved in the kickback scam, but no action is likely to be taken against ministers or government officials.

An adverse finding is likely to be made against former AWB chairman Andrew Lindberg, who stepped down after giving evidence to the Cole inquiry.

Mr Lindberg admitted on his final day on the witness stand that "it would appear" the kickback scheme was "set up before I arrived" at AWB but "continued under my stewardship and it shouldn't have".

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the cable access log was part of the Howard Government's continued cover-up. "They said they knew nothing of the kickbacks until the UN Volcker report. But ... the cable log demonstrates the extent of the official knowledge. It suggests very few people in the Government didn't know about the kickbacks."

The Cole inquiry has received a statement from former DFAT official Dara Williams, whom former trade minister Mark Vaile has blamed for not alerting him to crucial intelligence about the kickback scam.

Ms Williams worked in Mr Vaile's office when "unassessed intelligence" was received that Saddam had for over a year been forcing importers to pay 10 per cent commission on all goods.

She told Mr Cole in her statement that she had received a call on her private mobile phone from a journalist at The Australian last April, which was "unsolicited and took me by surprise".

She deflected the questions about intelligence, but told Mr Cole it was likely she opened the locked bag containing the information about kickbacks but it was often "very difficult ... to determine the weight and reliability" of raw intelligence.