Galloway's wife 'received £100,000 from Iraqis'

By Francis Harris 
October 25, 2005
The Telegraph
Original Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=DOTELSY34MVG3QFIQMFSM5WAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2005/10/25/wgall25.xml

The Palestinian-born wife of George Galloway, the Respect MP, is accused today of receiving $149,980 (about £100,000) derived from the United Nations Iraqi oil-for-food programme.
A report by an investigative committee of the United States Senate says the money was sent to the personal account of Amineh Abu Zayyad in August 2000.
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 George Galloway has always denied receiving money from Saddam's regime
The report, compiled by Republican and Democratic staff, contains detailed information gleaned from Iraqi archives and bank accounts in Britain and Jordan.
The investigators concluded that Mr Galloway knew about the payments and that through his wife was personally enriched by them. They say that he knowingly made false or misleading statements under oath before [a Senate] sub-committee.
Mr Galloway appeared before senators five months ago and assailed them for suggesting that he had a business relationship with Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. He told the chairman, Sen Norm Coleman: You have nothing on me, senator, except my name on lists of names from Iraq.
Later he added: What counts is not the names on the paper; what counts is where's the money, senator? Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars? The answer to that is nobody. And if you had anybody who ever paid me a penny, you would have produced them today.
The report includes bank records showing a paper trail from Saddam's ministries to Mrs Galloway. It states that the Iraqis handed several lucrative oil-for-food contracts to the Jordanian businessman Fawaz Zureikat, an old friend of the Galloways. A month later, on Aug 3, 2000, Mr Zureikat allegedly paid $150,000 minus a bank commission of $20 from his Citibank account number 500190207 into Mrs Galloway's account at the Arab Bank in Amman.
The senate team also says that a $15,666 payment had been made on the same date to a Bank of Scotland account belonging to Mr Galloway's spokesman, Ron McKay. Last night Mr McKay said he had no recollection of the alleged payment.
The oil-for-food programme was designed to help Iraq's needy but was misused by Saddam to reward friends and allies. Mrs Galloway, 51, was asked by the Senate committee whether she or her husband had benefited from Iraqi oil sales. She replied: I have never solicited or received from Iraq or anyone else any proceeds of any oil deals, either for myself or for my former husband. Mrs Galloway started divorce proceedings this year.
Mr Galloway would not appear before the sub-committee again but responded to 44 written questions. He again said that he had not benefited from Saddam's largesse. Asked whether Mr Zureikat had transferred oil profits to his account, he said: No. Asked whether his wife or his associates, including Mr McKay, had received any oil profits, Mr Galloway said: I have no knowledge of Mr Zureikat's business affairs.
Senate staff said at a press conference yesterday that they would send their report to Britain and Jordan for possible action against the Galloways and Mr Zureikat.
Three senior Iraqis in American custody, including the former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, told the Senate investigators that the oil-for-food contracts were intended to benefit the British MP's political campaigns.
Mr Aziz, who met Mr Galloway on the MP's Big Ben to Baghdad bus tour in 1999, said: The proceeds from the sale benefited the cause and Mr Galloway.
The report says: Aziz recalled that Galloway requested the Iraqi government to provide financial support for the Mariam Appeal [to send medicines to Iraq] to defray the expenses associated with conducting the campaign. Aziz recalls that Galloway said he had also asked for money from the governments of the other countries through which his procession had passed.
Mr Galloway has always admitted receiving help from senior Arabs and Middle Eastern governments but denies doing so from Saddam.
In April 2003 The Daily Telegraph found documents in Baghdad stating that Iraq had been supplying funds to him. Mr Galloway won the resulting libel trial. The case is being considered by the Court of Appeal.
Sen Coleman urged Mr Galloway to allow investigators to see other account information to which they had been unable to gain access.
Speaking at a press conference last night, he was asked whether Mr Galloway would be prosecuted for perjury. He responded: We will forward matters relating to Mr Galloway's false and misleading testimony to the authorities here and in Great Britain.
Mr Galloway's riposte was: I'll see you in court.