Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Hans Blix's conversations were bugged by the U.S. or the U.K. whenever he was in Iraq while working as the chief weapons inspector for the United Nations, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported today, citing Australian officials familiar with their country's intelligence service.

Transcripts of Blix's mobile telephone conversations were made available to the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand, ABC said. Blix retired in June. Richard Butler, the UN's chief weapons inspector until 1999, told ABC he also was bugged in Iraq while negotiating with the Iraqis.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard's office declined to comment on the ABC report, the broadcaster said. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer declined to say whether Australia had intelligence on UN officials before the Iraq war. Allegations that Blix and Butler were bugged follow comment by former British cabinet minister Clare Short yesterday that U.K. intelligence spied on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan before the war.

On Wednesday, a former employee of the U.K.'s electronic eavesdropping agency was cleared of leaking details of an e-mail from the U.S. National Security Agency requesting the U.K.'s help to spy on six UN Security Council members whose votes were needed last year to authorize war on Iraq. Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali today said he was told he was being bugged while in office by UN members in what was a ``tradition.''

(ABC, 2-27)

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Langan in London at hlangan@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 27, 2004 04:33 EST