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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A former Australian intelligence officer said it was "absolutely impossible" the government did not know about millions of dollars in alleged kickbacks paid to Saddam Hussein under the U.N. oil-for-food program.
A government inquiry is investigating whether Australia's monopoly wheat exporter, AWB Ltd., knowingly paid up to $222 million in alleged bribes to secure valuable wheat deals in Iraq.
Prime Minister John Howard's center-right government has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the alleged corruption, but a former officer with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Warren Reid, said the government would have been well aware of AWB's oil-for-food dealings.
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