The Canadian Wheat Board is demanding that a Saskatchewan MP retract allegations that the board has engaged in illegal sales practices.
Board officials say Anderson’s comments in the House of Commons have damaged the agency’s reputation and must be corrected.
But last week MP David Anderson, the Conservative member for Cypress Hills, wasn’t talking to the board or anyone else about the matter.
“Mr. Anderson is refraining from comment on those statements until we do a bit further research into the issue,” said Erin Iverson, Anderson’s legislative assistant.
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During question period May 8, Anderson said the board participated illegally in the United Nations oil-for-food program.
“It legally arranged sales to the … program through one of its accredited exporters,” he said, adding the board and its exporters lost $8 million on a $23 million “illegal deal” with Iraq.
CWB minister Reg Alcock responded by inviting Anderson to repeat the allegations outside the House of Commons. Comments made inside the House are protected from legal consequences.
“If he is alleging that the farmer-led board of the CWB has engaged in corrupt practices, he might want to step outside of the chamber and make that claim so that it can respond appropriately,” Alcock said.
CWB chief executive officer Adrian Measner said in an interview Anderson’s statements will create a false and negative impression of the agency among international customers.
“We treat that very seriously,” he said. “We feel very strongly this needs to be corrected, as it has damaged our reputation.”
During a U.S. congressional investigation of the oil-for-food program, which permitted companies to buy oil from Iraq if the proceeds were used to buy food, BNP Paribas, the chief bank for the program, acknowledged it improperly made “third party payments” to companies that were not on the UN’s list of firms approved to supply humanitarian goods to Iraq.
Information presented to the congressional committee indicates that of out of about 54,000 payments, 403 went to third parties, including four totalling $23.15 million to Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
The pool reported in 2000 that it had sold wheat to Iraq under the program as an accredited exporter for the CWB.
Iraq rejected portions of the shipments and the pool incurred $8.7 million in additional costs related to unloading delays and the transfer of the wheat to alternative buyers. There has been no suggestion that the pool or the CWB acted improperly.
Measner said under the accredited exporter program, the exporter takes over legal title to the grain and the responsibility for carrying out the terms of the transaction.
The money is paid into the CWB’s pool accounts before title is transferred, so no matter what happens, the pool accounts and the amount paid to farmers from those accounts, are unaffected.
In this case, the board sold 250,000 tonnes of wheat to SWP in June 1999 for further shipment to Iraq and was fully paid.
