Downer and Vaile expected to escape AWB sword

The Cole report on the AWB kickbacks is to be released today, but has failed to find evidence to support claims Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, former trade minister Mark Vaile knew about the inflated "trucking" fees.

He also is also expected to find none of the dozens of departmental officers assisting AWB's wheat export trade knew that the company had capitulated to Iraq's demands for kickbacks.

Cole is expected to provide forensic accounts of the knowledge and actions of certain public servants who dealt with AWB and its Iraq wheat sales in his report into the $290 million oil-for-food scandal, to be tabled in Parliament today.

He is expected to draw conclusions, which the Government will argue negates the Opposition's claim that the Cole inquiry's terms of reference were manipulated, drastically limiting scrutiny of the Government.