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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Australia's government faced more criticism Friday after acknowledging its intelligence agencies knew eight years ago that Saddam Hussein was using the U.N. oil-for-food program to take financial kickbacks.
The scam is the subject of a top level inquiry into whether Australia's monopoly wheat exporter, AWB Ltd., knowingly paid up to $222 million in bribes through the Jordanian company to win lucrative contracts.
The money then was allegedly diverted to the former Iraqi dictator via a Jordanian company.
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