Trevor James Flugge ( ; born 1 February 1947) is an Australian farmer and businessman. He is best known as a former official of the

Australian Wheat Board AWB Limited was a major grain marketing organisation based in Australia. Founded in 1939 by the Government of Australia as the Australian Wheat Board, in 1999 it was sold off by the government, initially to be owned by wheat growers. It was acqu ...

(AWB). He joined the board in 1984, was chair of AWB in 1995–2002, and was present at meetings in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

which were linked to the Oil-for-Food scandal, and an inquiry by the United Nations.

Background

Flugge was educated at

Aquinas College, Perth , motto_translation = Truth ConquersMassam, p. 18 , location = Salter Point, Perth, Western Australia , country = Australia , patron = Saint Thomas Aquinas , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Perth , pushpin_image ...

, and became a farmer in the Katanning area. In 1987, he was an unsuccessful National Party candidate for the seat of O'Connor (against

Wilson Tuckey Charles Wilson Tuckey (born 10 July 1935) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1980 to 2010, representing the seat of O'Connor in Western Australia for the Liberal Party. He was a minister in ...

) at the Australian election that year. Flugge has also served as chair of the Australian Wheat Growers Association, and as a board member of the major diversified company

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

Oil-for-Food scandal & the Cole Inquiry

Trevor Flugge was chair of AWB until March 2002, when he was voted off the board by A-class shareholders (wheat growers). He was appointed a consultant to AWB after the vote and travelled to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

later that year, with AWB chairman

Andrew Lindberg Andrew Alexander Lindberg (born 29 April 1953) is an Australian businessman. From 2000 until February 2006, he held the positions of managing director and board member of AWB Limited. He resigned from these positions in the wake of his appearance ...

, to rescue an AWB wheat export deal with

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

's regime. There were later accusations that AWB had paid

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...

s to secure the export contract. AWB officials agreed to pay $2 million to the Iraqi regime, which would then allow wheat exports to resume. This payment was made by inflating the price of wheat contracts administered by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Oil-for-Food Program The Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP), established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) was established to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs fo ...

. Following the 2003 invasion and overthrow of the Hussein regime, Flugge was made a senior adviser to the Iraqi agriculture department.Transcript - Alexander Downer Interview
(accessed:13-03-2007) After the bribery became public in 2005, Flugge denied to the UN's Volker inquiry that he knew about AWB's payments to the Hussein regime. Flugge was also called before an Australian government investigation in 2005, the

Cole inquiry The Cole Inquiry, formally the Inquiry into certain Australian companies in relation to the UN Oil-For-Food Programme, was a Royal Commission established by the Australian government pursuant to the to investigate "whether decisions, actions, ...

. When giving evidence to the latter inquiry, Flugge frequently claimed to have no knowledge of matters discussed at meetings he attended, due to hearing loss.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flugge, Trevor 1947 births Living people People from Katanning, Western Australia People educated at Aquinas College, Perth Businesspeople from Western Australia Farrer Medal recipients National Party of Australia politicians Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering