rn Michael Pascoe writes:

If there had been any doubt about thernfuture of AWB chairman Brendan Stewart, it was resolved yesterday when herneffectively stuck his hand up for execution and volunteered to take the rest ofrnhis failed board with him.

While most of the pack continue to hunt thernpolitical connection,rnthe corporate death sentence was in Stewart’s extraordinary admissions to thernCole inquiry about the board’s handling of the odious Tigris deal, whereby AWBrninflated the price of wheat sold to Iraq to recover an alleged $8 millionrndebt for a BHP associate – earning a half million dollar commission for itsrntrouble.

The SMH reports the damning evidence. It seems Stewart wasn’t concerned about thernethics of the thing, only whether AWB could further inflate wheat prices tornrecover other debts. Furthermore, itrnlooks like Stewart had detailed discussions with at least four other directorsrnbefore taking the matter to the full board.

Counsel assisting the inquiry,rnJohn Agius, SC, produced notes of the December 2004 board information sessionrntaken by the company secretary, Richard Fuller.

rnThe notes show that a boardrnmember, Ian Donges, who now chairs AWB International, asked whether the WheatrnExport Authority should be informed of this unusual deal. Another board member,rnWayne Gibson, asked how the $US500,000 recovery fee would be explained in termsrnof AWB’s accounts.

rnNotes taken by the AWB generalrncounsel Jim Cooper show a board member, John Thame, thought the “PRrnrisk” was high if news of the deal became public, and another boardrnmember, John Simpson, said the agreement with Tigris “seems extraordinary”.

rnAsked if the board took any otherrnaction, Mr Stewart said the deal was discussed at a board meeting the day afterrnthe initial briefing in December 2004. But the issue was apparentlyrndropped because it was seen as an operational matter that concerned management,rnrather than the board.

rnAnd that should be the corporate deathrnwarrant for Stewart and Co. They knew it was dodgy, wondered what the WEA wouldrnmake of it, realised it would be a PR disaster if anyone found out – and thenrnwashed their hands of the whole thing as if they really didn’t want to know.

Inflated prices and kickbacks? Hey, that’srnjust operational, leave us out of it – we’re too busy drafting a motion tornincrease directors’ fees.

Yesterday former AWB chairman Trevor Fluggern finally bowed to the inevitable andrn“took leave” from his three public company directorships – although his amazingly thick hide isrnon show by remaining chairman of Australian Wool Services, the farmer body thatrnowns the Woolmark Company.

Just on yesterday’s evidence, Stewart andrnhis fellow directors involved in that December 2004 board meeting should followrnsuite.

P.S. Wool is not only losing market sharernin a rising international textile market, it’s going backwards in absoluternterms – not exactly one of the greatrnmarketing success stories. Maybe Trev should go back to rebuilding Iraq.