US Senate committee names Galloway as recipient of Saddam oil payments
By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Jimmy Burns in London 
Published: May 12 2005 03:00 | Last updated: May 12 2005 03:00
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George Galloway, the maverick leftwing MP re-elected to parliament last week, was last night named by a US Senate investigative committee as having received lucrative oil allocations from Saddam Hussein. A report by the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations cites numerous documents from the Hussein-era ministry of oil and testimony from former regime officials that suggest Mr Galloway received allocations for up to 20m barrels.
According to the report, in April 2005, Taha Yassin Ramadan, vice-president of Iraq, told the subcommittee Mr Galloway had been granted oil allocations because of his opinions about Iraq and because he wanted] to lift the international trade embargo against Iraq. The committee also said there was some evidence Mr Galloway appeared to use a charity for children's leukaemia to conceal payments associated with at least one such allocation. That charity was the Mariam Appeal. Last night, Mr Galloway, who defeated Oona King in Bethnal Green and Bow representing Respect, an anti-war party, described the Senate committee as a lickspittle Republican committee, acting on the wishes of George W. Bush. He told the Financial Times: Let me repeat, I have never traded in a barrel of oil, or any vouchers for it. I have never seen a barrel of oil, apart from the one The Sun newspaper deposited in my front garden. And no one has acted on my behalf, trading in oil - Middle Eastern, olive, patchouli or any other - or in vouchers, whatever they are. The oil-for-food programme was set up by the United Nations to allow Iraq to buy medicines and humanitarian goods in short supply because of international sanctions. The flaw was that the regime was able to sell oil allocations at below market price to people of its choosing. Mr Galloway won a libel action against The Daily Telegraph in December over defamatory allegations relating to the oil-for-food programme. Last month, the newspaper won permission to appeal against the £150,000 in damages plus £1.2m in costs.
But the Senate committee said the documents in its report had no relation to those discussed in The Daily Telegraph piece, as they came from a later date, and were from the Iraqi oil ministry. The Daily Telegraph documents reportedly included allegations that Galloway was on the payroll of the Hussein regime, the report said. In contrast, the evidence examined by the subcommittee indicates Galloway was granted oil allocations that would have to be monetised through complex oil transactions. But Mr Galloway said last night: I have repeatedly asked for an opportunity to appear before the committee to provide evidence that rebut their assumptions and they have yet to respond, while apparently making their judgment. Also named by the committee is Charles Pasqua, a former French interior minister, who it suggested had received allocations for 11m barrels. Mr Pasqua could not be reached but last week he denied any involvement.