Galloway allegations 'serious'

2003-04-23 21:00

London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair was treating as "serious," allegations that a member of his ruling Labour party was in the pay of Saddam Hussein's regime, his official spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Responding for the first time to reports in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that Scottish deputy George Galloway was paid more than half a million dollars a year by Saddam to promote the ousted leader's regime, the spokesperson added: "Since I believe there is a prospect of legal action, I don't think you would expect me to comment any further at this stage."

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Galloway - who has been nicknamed "the MP for Baghdad Central" for his personal ties to Saddam and opposition to the US-led war on Iraq - had a request for more money turned down by the toppled leader.

The daily reported on Tuesday that Galloway took a slice of Iraq's oil earnings worth £375 000 a year, and claimed on Wednesday that Saddam found the MP's demands for additional funds unaffordable.

Saddam's response was outlined in a memo circulated by his most senior aide to four senior figures of his former regime, including deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, the daily said.

Alleged oil earnings

The memo was found in Baghdad in the Iraqi foreign ministry by the same Telegraph reporter who had found a separate memo there outlining Galloway's alleged oil earnings and demands for more money.

Saddam's response, dated May 2, 2000, said that Galloway was someone who was "promoting the right path, even using western methods" who "needs exceptional support" but which the Iraqi regime "cannot afford."

Galloway is currently at his holiday home in Portugal.

The Telegraph's editor Charles Moore on Wednesday confirmed his paper was being sued by Galloway but insisted the revelations stood up.

"We certainly have had a legal letter and no doubt things will go forward from there. We look forward to that," Moore told the GMTV news programme.

"We will defend our journalism robustly. I think it is excellent journalism and a fantastic scoop."

Labour Party chairman Ian McCartney called the allegations "extremely serious," adding that they would be investigated by the party.

Galloway has vigorously denied the allegations.

"I have never solicited, nor would I have accepted had I been offered, any financial assistance of any kind from the Iraqi regime," he told BBC television on Tuesday.

Behind the scenes

The right-wing Daily Telegraph, which led a pro-US stance in the build-up to and during the war on Iraq, alleged that Galloway, 48, had entered into a partnership with an Iraqi oil broker to sell oil on the international market.

The paper said the details were outlined in a memo sent by the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam's office in January 2000.

The documents suggested that while he was campaigning for his anti-war charity, the Mariam Appeal, Galloway was conducting a relationship with Iraqi intelligence behind the scenes, it said.

In 1998 Galloway set up the Mariam Appeal to fly young Iraqi leukaemia sufferer Mariam Hamza to Britain for treatment. The MP blamed uranium-tipped weapons used by coalition forces in the first Gulf War for her condition.

According to a report on Wednesday in The Times newspaper, Britain's top legal official Attorney General Peter Goldsmith was examining claims that Galloway had spent money raised by the Mariam Appeal to fund travel expenses.

The case was at a "very, very early stage" but if wrongdoing was found Galloway could be ordered to repay the money and face civil action, said a spokesperson for Goldsmith.

- AFX