Australia's political leaders have traded furious accusations in parliament

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia's political leaders have traded furious accusations in parliament over a scandal that could cost both of them their jobs, as an email at the centre of the row was reported as a fake.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull repeated his claim that Treasurer Wayne Swan had lied over the so-called "Utegate" affair, prompting an angry rebuttal from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Turnbull says Rudd and Swan helped a car-dealer friend seeking government funds, basing his claim on an email printed in weekend newspapers which supposedly came from the Treasury.
But public broadcaster ABC, without citing sources, reported that the email was a fake and a senior Treasury official whose testimony prompted the row was being interviewed by police.
Police told AFP they were conducting investigations as a result of a referral from the attorney-general's department, but would not give further comment.
If the email is a forgery, it will torpedo Turnbull's argument and give weight to the prime minister's repeated calls for the opposition leader to quit.
On Monday, Rudd dismissed the correspondence as a forgery and claimed that Turnbull's "fingerprints are all over this email, and he knows it."
"This fraudulent email was the rock on which the leader of the opposition has constructed his case against me and the Treasurer," Rudd said.
"This rock has now disintegrated into sand... these facts demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that the leader of the opposition has been fundamentally untruthful with the Australian people."


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