AWB concedes it knew ''transport fees'' it made were being passed on to Saddam Hussein's regime

AWB (Australian Wheat Board) concedes it knew ''transport fees'' it made to a Jordanian company, Alia, were being passed on to Saddam Hussein's regime between 1999 and 2003.

Settlement bolsters AWB

SHARES in the grains exporter AWB leapt 9 per cent yesterday after the company's lawyers removed the uncertainty of litigation over the Iraqi kickbacks scandal by settling a shareholder class action.

AWB agreed to pay $39.5 million, including interest and the shareholders' legal costs, to more than 1000 aggrieved institutional and retail investors. The deal involved no admissions of liability by AWB.

Last week the company conceded in the Federal Court for the first time that it knew ''transport fees'' it made to a Jordanian company, Alia, were being passed on to Saddam Hussein's regime between 1999 and 2003. However, it denied the fees contravened United Nations sanctions or abused the UN's oil-for-food program.

If the case had proceeded, Justice Foster's judgment would have been the first ruling on a shareholder class action in Australia.