Beekeeping company mystified by claims of international corruption

Stuart Ecroyd finds the claims against his firm laughable. Picture / Simon Baker

Stuart Ecroyd is remarkably relaxed for a man whose company has been embroiled in an investigation into large-scale international corruption.

The Christchurch small business owner finds it so unbelievable he has to laugh about it.

Mr Ecroyd's humble family business, Ecroyd Beekeeping Supplies, is one of two New Zealand firms named in a report on businesses which an independent inquiry committee says made illegal profits from Iraq's oil-for-food programme.

The other is Auckland-based JB Sales International, which sold drilling machines to Iraq.

Ecroyd Beekeeping Supplies supplied 500 honey extractors and 400,000kg of beeswax comb foundation sheets for beehives for about $700,000, after winning an international tender from the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture in 2002.

"I think the issue is that [the committee] think we may have given backhanders to some government officials in Iraq - that's what I take out of it. But that couldn't be further from the truth," Mr Ecroyd said.

"I think it is a bit of a laugh, to be honest. I'm not concerned at all."

Mr Ecroyd thinks the issue arose from a hold-up with his products when they first arrived in Iraq. "Someone stuck their hand up and said we want $30,000 - I think they called it after-sales tax or some form of something - and I said, 'Like hell'."

He contacted New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for help. It in turn contacted the United Nations in New York, which took action.

"Once the UN got involved things happened and the containers continued to move on their merry way.

"Once they got to Baghdad we had to get a certificate to prove they had been received in Baghdad."

All documentation had to be then sent to the UN, before Mr Ecroyd's business could even get paid. Mr Ecroyd got a letter in July from the independent inquiry committee about unauthorised payments.

"I thought, well that's nothing to do with us, and I didn't even bother replying to it."

The next time he heard about it was when the media contacted him.

Akram Dilaimi, who organised the supply of small drilling machines from JB Sales to Iraq, said he could not understand what the problem was.

An agent had acted for his company in Iraq and no unauthorised payment was made to anyone, he said.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Brad Tattersfield said the exports in question by the two New Zealand firms were being looked into and a report would be presented to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.