Galloway tried to halt charity probe
GEORGE Galloway tried to to halt an investigation into his charity by wrongly claiming it had not received money from Iraq.
Mr Galloway wrote to the Attorney General after the start of the last Gulf War asking him to end his inquiry.
It was later revealed that the MP’s Mariam Appeal had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in oil deals from the Iraqi dictatorship.
The details of Mr Galloway’s letter to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, was revealed through a Freedom Of Information request.
He wrote to the law officer in 2003 insisting his fund had received “absolutely no money” from Iraq.
However, the matter was referred to the charities commission, which found at least $376,000 paid to the fund by Fawaz Zureikat, a Jordanian businessman, had come from oil contracts provided by Saddam Hussain’s regime.
The regulator later ruled that Mr Galloway had “at best turned a blind eye” to what was happening.
The maverick politician, who is vying with Labour for control of the Bradford West seat, said: “I stand by the statement I made that I received no money from Iraq. Mr Zureikat traded in many countries, including Iraq.
“He has assured me none of the money he donated as president of the Mariam Appeal came from Iraq or the oil for food programme. Where is the evidence, rather than uninformed supposition, that it did? There is none.”
The charity commission ruled in 2007 that Mr Galloway “should have made further inquiries when accepting such large and cumulative donations to satisfy (himself) as to their origin and legitimacy.”