Mr Moffet was speaking after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced last week, that it had abandoned its criminal investigation into the AWB Iraqi kickback scandal.

After a legal review, the AFP decided there was virtually no chance of prosecuting criminal charges against any former AWB officers.

The AFP's decision to abandon one of Australia's highest-profile corruption probes has now placed any future action into the hands of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

ASIC has been running its own investigation for more than a year.

The corporate watchdog is pursuing criminal charges against the former AWB executives, who allegedly breached company law in helping to funnel almost $300 million to Saddam Hussein's regime through the bogus Jordanian trucking company Alia, in breach of United Nations sanctions.

Held in early 2006, the Cole inquiry recommended that criminal charges be pursued against 11 former AWB officers and a former BHP senior executive, Norman Davidson Kelly.

A subsequent taskforce into the viability of those charges was led by the AFP and included ASIC and the Victorian Police.

It reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents collated by the Cole inquiry.

The decision to end the AFP probe was made during a recent meeting of senior officers and investigators of the AFP and ASIC, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Chris Craigie, SC, and the Attorney-General's Department.

In July, the AFP commissioned Sydney-based QC Peter Hastings to review the oil-for-food taskforce.

As a result of the review Mr Hastings advised that due to a range of factors the prospects of a successful criminal prosecution were limited and not in the public interest.

The AFP confirmed its decision in a statement last week, and said it would now be offering its assistance to ASIC as required.

ASIC has already launched civil penalty proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court against six former AWB officers, alleging they breached their duties to the company in knowing about the kickbacks and allowing them to continue.

Five of those cases were halted late last year after Justice Ross Robson decided it was "on the cards" that criminal charges would be laid against the accused managers.