Police and the Serious Fraud Office appear to be making slow progress investigating possible New Zealand involvement in the Iraq oil-for-food case, which has raised concerns about the thoroughness of investigators.
Two of the three New Zealand companies connected to the UN probe into bribes paid to Iraq
under the programme - Fonterra and Christchurch's Ecroyd Beekeeping Supplies - said yesterday they had still not been approached by investigators.
A senior officer at JB Sales said the owner was overseas and he could not say for certain whether the firm had been approached or not.
Just before Christmas, police national headquarters said it was liaising with the SFO about how the case should be dealt with.
But, three months on there are no clear signs of progress.
SFO director David Bradshaw would not answer Business Herald questions yesterday about progress, declining to say whether his office had even got round to deciding whether to take a role in the investigation.
A police national headquarters spokeswoman could only say that liaison with the SFO was continuing but no decision had been reached about where the investigation would go from here.
New Zealand police last year went to a UN committee about Iraq-related dealings following criticism from the OECD. A probe in 2005 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade cleared the three New Zealand companies of breaches under the oil-for-food programme.
But last year the OECD said a ministry search of files was not sufficient in Fonterra's case, and suggested police and other law enforcement bodies should have sought more information from the UN.
Police then went to the UN committee and received material from it.
Last year's police statement did not name the companies but said the information received from the committee related to two New Zealand firms identified in the 2005 UN report and a Vietnamese company that "it is alleged a further New Zealand company had links with".
It has been claimed that Vietnam Dairy Products - which Fonterra supplied - knowingly paid kickbacks to Iraq for US$360 million ($511 million) worth of milk powder contracts.
Fonterra has said the issues raised by the OECD related to the time when the old Dairy Board dealt with the Vietnamese company.
The co-op has denied being a party to, or aware of, any bribes paid by the Vietnamese company to Iraq.
