Commissioner Cole expressed frustration on 24 March (transcript) that after 3 months of hearings and after its own internal investigations ("Project Rose") AWB had not produced a summary of facts it agrees with. (The point being: when did the Board become aware of the payments to Alia and when did it become aware that Alia was owned by the Iraqi government?)
Much of the afternoon (page 59 ff) was taken up with legal argument surrounding what AWB company secretary Dr Fuller could say and his evidence regarding the location of missing documents (such as folders and 30,000 emails considered by Project Rose in 2004) and the provenance of a draft media statement prepared in late 2005.
The draft media statement is the subject of a non-publication order pending AWB's submissions as to whether it is legally privileged. Fuller says it was drafted by a crisis management expert.
Other documents relating to Project Rose remain confidential while the Commissioner determines whether it was a stakeholder management exercise or set up for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
A reading of the transcript shows AWB had poor document management at the least. Fuller is not clear what documents were tabled at Board meetings and whether other documents were drafts or final and where they and relevant emails are kept.
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