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| Britain | |
| Galloway: others may have taken money | |
| 2003-04-24 | |
| George Galloway conceded last night that intermediaries in his fund-raising activities could have siphoned off money from Saddam Hussein — but insisted he had never done so. "I am not a crook!" As the Labour MP fought to counter allegations that he received up to £375,000 a year from the Iraqi regime, Mr Galloway revealed the full amount given to the Mariam Appeal — the organisation he founded to fly a young Iraqi leukemia victim to Britain for medical treatment and which then became a campaign against Iraqi sanctions — and pledged to release further figures today. Speaking to the Guardian from his "But not me! My hands are clean! Clean, I tell ya!" He also conceded he was open to criticism for collecting money from what he called "I just handled it. Yeah, that's it! I handled it! It felt great, too!" Mr Galloway's comments came after the Daily Telegraph printed documents, discovered in a burnt-out foreign ministry building in Baghdad and purporting to be from an Iraqi spy chief, that suggested he had demanded money from the Iraqi regime under the oil-for-food scheme. "Irrespective of the provenance of the documents the material in them is false", the MP for Glasgow Kelvin said yesterday. There was no evidence he had ever traded in oil, or food, or money, Mr Galloway said. "I have not," he insisted. "I never consummated those trades! Someone else did that. I just handled the money. Honest! Why don't you trust me?" Yesterday, the allegations intensified as the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith QC, in his capacity as protector of charities, confirmed he was considering whether to investigate claims Mr Galloway had misspent money raised by the Mariam Appeal. It has been alleged that he had spent the money — purportedly intended to treat sick Iraqi children — on extensive travelling expenses. But Lord Goldsmith is taking legal advice to assess if he has the power to investigate the appeal, which has not registered as a charity. How convenient. An unregistered charity that took donations from unlikely quarters. As MPs urged him to throw open the appeal's accounts, Mr Galloway revealed that the Mariam Appeal had received about £800,000 over the past four years. More than £500,000 was provided by the United Arab Emirates and about £100,000 by Saudi Arabia. Saudis? Whoda thunk? And the costs of medical care for the leukemia young Mariam had was about what? Here in the states, if a young child gets a bone marrow transplant and lives four years (likely), costs could be a half-million dollars or so, more if there are complications. The bulk of the remainder had been provided by the Jordanian businessman, Fawaz Zureikat, a long-time opponent of sanctions against Iraq and the campaign's chairman. The rest came from a number of small donors, said Mr Galloway. As for expenditure, £150,000 was spent on the "Big Ben to Baghdad" bus — which travelled from London to Baghdad in 1999 — and about £60,000 on a sanctions-busting flight to Baghdad the following year. A total of £80,000 was spent on the campaign's offices overlooking Trafalgar Square in central London, £35,000 was spent on three conferences, and £50,000 on sanctions-monitoring publications, publicity and advertisements. Mr Galloway insisted the Great Britain Iraq Society, an organisation linked to the Mariam Appeal and cited by the MP as funding foreign trips in the Commons register of members' interests, had spent just a few thousand pounds in one year. That's about £380,000 and change, leaving about £400,000 -- perhaps $550,000 to $600,000 — for Mariam. Wonder how much of it was spent on her? He added that further "ballpark figures" would be released today in a one-page summary, while more detailed documentation, including bank statements and cheques, would be drawn up later and presented as a "material part" of his libel case against the Daily Telegraph. The information failed to satisfy
Impeccable logic, that. "I say crime because if it is true that he took money from the oil-for-food programme, it is a crime against humanity. That was money for food for the people in Iraq, it was not for George Galloway." Sure it was! George said so, so it must be okay! Michael Foster, Labour MP for Hastings and Rye and a member of the Commons standards and privileges committee, said the committee — which expects to be called to investigate him — "will want to be satisfied he hasn't received any personal benefit that has not been registered". He added: "As a colleague, I always think openness is the best policy. If he says he has nothing to hide, I would certainly invite him to produce the accounts at the earliest opportunity," he added. If this was happening in the US, the IRS would be doing an audit right now trying to figure out how much unpaid tax was owed, with what sorts of penalties for tax fraud. You Brits have an equivalent, eh Bulldog? | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 Tariq Aziz has a new career.. one that's likely good enough to keep him out of the gallows. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-04-24 20:22:45 |
| #8 (CSMonitor via instapundit and hub blog) Boston-based Christian Science Monitor has a big, big scoop, saying it has obtained documents detailing possible âmultimillion dollar payments to an outspoken British member of parliament, George Galloway.â ... Not $350,000 as previously reported. But millions. The documents were found in the house of Saddamâs son, Qusay, another one of those darling little Hussein boys. From the story by Philip Smucker: âThe most recent - and possibly most revealing - documents were obtained earlier this week by the Monitor. The papers include direct orders from the Hussein regime to issue Mr. Galloway six individual payments, starting in July 1992 and ending in January 2003. ... "The three most recent payment authorizations, beginning on April 4, 2000, and ending on January 14, 2003 are for $3 million each. All three authorizations include statements that show the Iraqi leadership's strong political motivation in paying Galloway for his vociferous opposition to US and British plans to invade Iraq.â |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-24 17:26:39 |
| #7 Hmmm. Galloway's comments sound suspiciously like Michael Bellesiles-type weaseling. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-04-24 15:40:39 |
| #6 O'reilly's been all over that, and yes,he had to amend and restate several of the PUSH financial statements. Penalties weren't made public, but while Clinton was president, the IRS was held away from "the Revrund". He's gotten smarter - now he just extorts $ from companies with threats of racial accusations |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-24 11:22:22 |
| #5 Steve, about the IRS investigating, how come they've never investigated Jesse Jackson? |
| Posted by: Denny 2003-04-24 09:13:40 |
| #4 I'd really like to see the contents of the box labeled "France". "USA" would be nice to see, too. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-04-24 02:16:17 |
| #3 I wonder if Portugal has an extradition treaty with Britain? ;) Did this "Mariam" even get the treatment for leukemia? It seems like they spent money on everything except her. Poor kid. |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-04-24 02:07:57 |
| #2 this story just gets better and better: funding from the Soddies and the UAE, oh my god it's just looking worse and worse for GG every minute. Ohhh keep looking David Blair if there are any boxes marked 'Australia' please drag them out too!!!!! |
| Posted by: anon1 2003-04-24 01:45:15 |
| #1 (CSMonitor via instapundit and hub blog) Boston-based Christian Science Monitor has a big, big scoop, saying it has obtained documents detailing possible âmultimillion dollar payments to an outspoken British member of parliament, George Galloway.â ... Not $350,000 as previously reported. But millions. The documents were found in the house of Saddamâs son, Qusay, another one of those darling little Hussein boys. From the story by Philip Smucker: âThe most recent - and possibly most revealing - documents were obtained earlier this week by the Monitor. The papers include direct orders from the Hussein regime to issue Mr. Galloway six individual payments, starting in July 1992 and ending in January 2003. ... "The three most recent payment authorizations, beginning on April 4, 2000, and ending on January 14, 2003 are for $3 million each. All three authorizations include statements that show the Iraqi leadership's strong political motivation in paying Galloway for his vociferous opposition to US and British plans to invade Iraq.â |
| Posted by: Frank G 4/24/2003 5:26:39 PM |