Sun McKay, the former soldier who was present when a fellow Australian security guard died from a gunshot wound at the Baghdad Embassy, was interviewed by Australian police before being allowed to fly home to Australia, Fairfax Media has been told. 
It came as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade indicated it might review its $51 million contract with the private security firm paid to protect the embassy in the wake of the shooting death of guard Chris Betts, 34.
Fairfax Media understands Australian Federal Police investigators interviewed Mr McKay, a former commando, before he left Baghdad. But Mr McKay, 39, was subsequently allowed to get on a plane on Wednesday that it was believed was bound for Australia. He has not been charged.
A source in Iraq said Mr McKay was not being escorted and was flying with another employee from the security firm Unity Resources Group.
Mr McKay was understood to have been present when Mr Betts, also a former Australian soldier working for URG, died of a gunshot wound last Thursday morning.
A former employee of URG has told Fairfax Media that Mr McKay had in the past been reported to managers for threatening co-workers and for handling weapons inappropriately. The former employee said he did not believe Mr McKay should be working as a security guard.
A spokesman for DFAT said on Wednesday evening that AFP investigators were continuing their investigation into the shooting death.
"When the facts surrounding the death of the contractor on 12   May have been established, DFAT will consider whether there are any implications for its security contract with URG," he said. "We note that there have been a number of claims relating to the management of the security contract. These will be investigated."
The spokesman said that "at no point has Mr Sun McKay been detained" and branded media reports that he had been under guard as "incorrect".
Fairfax Media has previously been told that Mr McKay was taken to a military base at Baghdad Airport after Mr Betts' death. It was reported that he was subsequently moved back to Carl Hall, the converted hospital that served as accommodation for the security contractors next to the embassy.
It was unclear whether Mr McKay was going to be met by authorities when he arrived back in Australia. Neither DFAT nor the AFP would comment in response to that question on Wednesday.
"Everyone is confused," the source in Iraq said.
Mr McKay's father told the ABC that Mr McKay had left Iraq and was planning to travel back to Australia.
Several former employees have spoken to Fairfax Media about what they say was a deterioration in standards at URG including cost-cutting.
The DFAT spokesman said: "A team of investigators from the Australian Federal Police, including forensic experts, is currently in Baghdad conducting an investigation into the incident. They are working in close co-operation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Embassy has been in contact with Iraqi authorities."
Follow us on Twitter