The federal government has distanced itself from intelligence reports showing Australia's spy agencies knew eight years ago that a trucking firm used by the Australian Wheat Board was part-owned by the former Iraqi regime.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, says the intelligence, revealed in the Cole inquiry had not been evaluated and so was not passed on to federal ministers.
But Labor's Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, has labelled Mr Howard a liar.
However Mr Howard insists infomation contained in the documents do not prove AWB was one of the companies which was paying the Jordanian trucking.