Two key players in the AWB kickbacks scandal were on the White House guest list for US President george bush's official reception in May to honor Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Both men were key figures in the inquiry into the Australian wheat export agency abusing the UN oil-for-food program and slinging bribes to Iraqi officials, with the shonky payments disguised as costs and fees.



BHP Billiton executive Tom Harley played an important role in BHP's push to secure oil fields in Iraq through its controversial affilate Tigris Petroleum. Harley had told the Australian Government that BHP Billiton's hands were clean in Iraq because it left all liaison with Saddam Hussein's regime to its joint venture partner Tigris, according to news reports.

The second guest, Michael Thawley, played a key role in 2004 in defusing the US Senate's probe into corruption of the United Nation's oil-for-food program, according to this report.

Other guests on the guest list include US vice-president Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch.