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 became a private company, owned by wheat growers. It was acquired by Agrium in 2010 ...

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

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

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

Background

Flugge was educated at

Aquinas College, Perth Aquinas College, informally known as Aquinas or AC, is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Single-sex education, single-sex Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary Day school, day a ...

, and became a farmer in the Katanning area. In 1987, he was an unsuccessful

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

candidate for the seat of

O'Connor O'Connor or O'Conor may refer to: People * O'Connor or O'Conor, an Irish clan * O'Connor Sligo, a royal dynasty ruling the northern part of the Kingdom of Connacht * O'Connor (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places * Burdett ...

(against

Wilson Tuckey Charles Wilson Tuckey (born 10 July 1935) is an 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 the H ...

) in 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 and the Cole Inquiry

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

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

later that same year, with AWB chairman Andrew Lindberg, to rescue an AWB wheat export deal with

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

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

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

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

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

. 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. 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