01/31/06  Call for AWB U.S. credit suspension

01/31/06 Call for AWB U.S. credit suspension

Farm and Ranch January 31, 2006 U.S. wheat industry organizations are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to again suspend the Australian Wheat Board's U.S. subsidiary from using USDA export credit programs. U.S. Wheat Associates Communications Director Dawn Forsythe, says the request is based on evidence from Australia's own investigation into Wheat Board kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime. Forsythe: "Evidence has shown that AWB funneled over 200-million dollars of bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime. We are asking USDA to protect the integrity of our programs. AWB has a U.S. subsidiary working in the U.S. called ADW USA. They have accessed our export credit programs before and there were defaults under those programs, so we are asking USDA to reinstate the suspension they made last November." Forsythe says that November suspension was short lived. Forsythe: "A couple of days later the State Department got involved, asked USDA to lift that suspension. At that point they said they were going to wait and see what evidence emerged. Well, the evidence emerging from the inquiry down in Australia is absolutely devastating. In fact AWB has lost almost a quarter of its stock value." The wheat industry hopes to get a response from USDA soon. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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