Aussie company's kickbacks tax deductible

SYDNEY, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The Australian company embroiled in the Iraqi oil-for-food-scandal has escaped paying tax on kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime.

The Australian Taxation Office began an investigation after a government inquiry into the wheat exporter AWB Limited found $235 million had been paid in kickbacks on grain contracts in breach of U.N. sanctions.

AWB said in a statement Wednesday it had been informed that the payments made were not bribes and, therefore, could be claimed as tax deductions.

The Opposition Labor Party Treasury spokesman, Wayne Swan, label the tax office's decision a disgrace.

"There is a loophole in the Tax Act which is big enough to drive wheat truck through and what we see today ... is the government giving AWB a pat on the back, a financial reward for their bribes," Swan said.

AWB shares rose on news of the tax decision.