Fed: Secuirity tight ahead of Howard's appearance at AWB inquiry

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2006
Fed: Secuirity tight ahead of Howard's appearance at AWB inquiry

SYDNEY, April 13 AAP - Security has been increased at the Cole inquiry ahead of an
appearance today by Prime Minister John Howard.

Extra security guards were throughout the foyer of the central Sydney office block
housing the inquiry while hordes of reporters and camera crews waited outside.

Mr Howard will enter the inquiry through the main doors, unlike Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer who on Tuesday avoided the large media throng by choosing another entrance for
his appearance.

Police sniffer dogs were sent into the building for a security sweep about an hour
before the prime minister was due to appear in the witness box at 10am (AEST).

Outside the hearing room, about 100 reporters and members of the public were lined
up to grab one of the few seats in the inquiry's public gallery.

It is the tightest security has been during the 13 weeks of the Cole inquiry into the
kickbacks scandal.

Mr Howard is expected to be asked about a series of diplomatic cables warning the government
in the past six years that AWB's contracts with Saddam Hussein's regime contained $300
million worth of kickbacks.

Mr Howard was called as a witness after providing a statement earlier this week to
the Sydney-based inquiry headed by retired judge Terence Cole.

On Tuesday, Mr Downer told the inquiry he could not remember the cables, and Trade
Minister Mark Vaile experienced similar memory problems when he testified on Monday.

AAP bt/jlw/lma

KEYWORD: AWB SECURITY

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