Posted on 02/16/2004 7:48:52 PM PST by Pikamax
Iraq oil cash funded MPs' campaigns
Businessmen handed on money illicitly siphoned from UN deals to pressure groups run by George Galloway and Tam Dalyell
David Leigh and David Pallister Tuesday February 17, 2004 The Guardian
Money illicitly siphoned from the UN oil-for-food programme by Saddam Hussein was used to finance anti-sanctions campaigns run by British politicians, according to documents that have surfaced in Baghdad. Undercover cash from oil deals went to three businessmen who in turn supported pressure groups involving the ex-Labour MP George Galloway, Labour MP Tam Dalyell, and the former Irish premier Albert Reynolds, it is alleged in documents compiled by the oil ministry, which is now under the control of the US occupation regime.
Separately, a dossier from the oil ministry in Baghdad has been handed by the British Foreign Office to Customs and Excise, which has been asked to investigate. They were also referred to the Cabinet Office because of their political sensitivity.
"The government has been given copies of certain documents [from Iraq]," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said yesterday. "They are being passed to the appropriate authorities for consideration."
Two of the three businessmen involved in UK campaigns, Burhan al-Chalabi and Riad al-Tajir, were based in Surrey; the other, Fawwaz Zureikat, a Jordanian entrepreneur, had offices in London.
Mr Chalabi and Mr Zureikat gave money to the Mariam Appeal, run by Mr Galloway, the MP confirmed. Mr Tahir said he ran another anti-sanctions campaign called Friendship Across Borders, which had Mr Dalyell as its official patron and organised visits to Baghdad by supportive politicians.
The three businessmen are alleged to have received money from Saddam via oil allocations. They sold the oil rights on at a profit of more than $1m (about £530,000), in an exploitation by Saddam of loopholes in the UN's then oil-for-food programme.
Mr Tahir agrees he profited from the oil deals. Mr Chalabi refuses to comment. Mr Zureikat confirmed to Agence France Presse in Jordan last week that he had made the oil deals.
The oil-for-food programme was set up in 1995 amid fears of a humanitarian disaster after the first Gulf war. Under the scheme, Saddam was allowed to sell limited quantities of oil to pay for food and medicine for the Iraqi people.
The contents of the new documents shed light on Mr Galloway's libel battle with the Daily Telegraph. Last year newspaper reports based on purported Iraqi intelligence files led to him being accused of receiving an annual £375,000 in secret personal payments from Saddam.
Our investigations in Iraq, New York, Paris, Moscow and London indicate the new British-related documents are authentic, although their meaning is not always clear.
These files do not implicate Mr Galloway in personal corruption. Nor do they suggest that Mr Dalyell and Mr Reynolds, who always paid their own way, had any knowledge of what was going on.
Mr Galloway said he was unaware that his financial sponsors were getting oil cash from the UN programme. But he accepts that he knew his supporters had links with Saddam's regime, and regarded that as an inevitable price to pay.
Despite their importance in the bitter Galloway controversy, the contract documents seem unlikely to surface in the pending libel trial.
The so-called oil list has already caused worldwide embarrassment, with allegations made against prominent people and companies in France, Russia, Switzerland and South Africa, as well as employees at the UN.
Across the world, some of those named agree the lists seem authentic. Others deny it, or say details are exaggerated.
I highly recommend to you the Yes, Prime Minister series. It's British Comedy divided up into 1/2 hour shows. I found it to be hysterically funny as it's all about corrupt British politicians. The funny lines in it are relevant to things going on today. I rented them from Netflix.
If there is an Elgindy's on there, take notice- I haven't gone through the entire list, but I would be amused if there's an Elgindy on it.
No.
1998 : (UK LABOUT MP HELPS FOUND THE MARIAM APPEAL) But I do know a few things about George Galloway and the cause he championed with regards to Iraq. I know that he helped found the Mariam Appeal, a humanitarian organisation established in 1998 initially to raise funds on behalf of an Iraqi girl who suffered from leukaemia and who, because of economic sanctions, was unable to receive adequate medical care. - "Galloway's a crook - how convenient, " by Scott "shorteyes" Ritter, The Guardian , Friday April 25, 2003
DECEMBER 25, 1999 : (UK LABOUT MP GALLOWAY SPENDS CHRISTMAS WITH IRAQI OFFICIAL TARIQ AZIZ) - Source Galloway, on Radio 4 program "On the Ropes." on June 17, 2003 according to the story "I was in Iraq on day alleged in memos, admits Galloway," By Sally Pook, Daily Telegraph - UK, June 18, 2003
DECEMBER 26, 1999 : (BOXING DAY HOLIDAY : UK LABOUR MP GALLOWAY WAS IN IRAQ, MET WITH IRAQI INTELLIGENCE AGENT OVER GALLOWAY'S CUT OF THE OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM) One of the documents [found by the UK Telegraph in Iraq in 2003] was a memorandum suggesting that on Boxing Day 1999 Mr Galloway met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Baghdad and laid out his demands for a larger slice of the revenue from the sale of three million barrels of oil every six months. It also purported to show him as asking for "exceptional" commercial opportunities. Saddam Hussein's office rejected these alleged requests for more money, explaining that they were unaffordable. -"I was in Iraq on day alleged in memos, admits Galloway," By Sally Pook, Daily Telegraph - UK, June 18, 2003
SEPTEMBER 14, 2001 Friday (UK : GALLOWAY MAKES "10,000 BIN LADENS" PLEA AGAINST ASSAULT ON AFGHANISTAN) : During an emergency debate in the House of Commons, Labour MP George Galloway issues an impassioned warning against an all-out assault on Afghanistan, warning that such action could create "10,000 Osama bin Ladens". http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,554018,00.html
APRIL 22, 2003 : (DOCUMENTS FOUND IN IRAQ INDICATE GALLOWAY WAS BRIBED) - "Galloway was in Saddam's pay, say secret Iraqi documents"
APRIL 25, 2003 : (GALLOWAY FUND TO BE INVESTIGATED) - "Galloway fund to face inquiry"
APRIL 27, 2003 : (GALLOWAY IN HOT WATER)George Galloway, the anti-war Labour MP who is suing over allegations he secretly took money from Saddam Hussein, faces the prospect of a criminal prosecution for treachery. The Observer can reveal that the Director of Public Prosecutions is considering pursuing the Glasgow politician for comments during the Iraq war when he called on British troops not to fight. In an interview with Abu Dhabi TV during the Iraq conflict, Galloway said: 'The best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders.' Lawyers for service personnel claim his call for soldiers to disobey what he called 'illegal orders' amount to a breach of the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934. The maximum penalty is two years in jail. Galloway's calls for British troops to disobey orders came during the TV interview in which he described Tony Blair and George Bush as 'wolves' for embarking on military action. After Galloway made the comments on Abu Dhabi TV, Hugheston-Roberts wrote to the DPP asking him to prosecute or allow a private prosecution to be brought. - "MP may be tried as traitor (Galloway))," by Antony Barnett and Martin Bright, The Observer (U.K.) , 04/27/03
MAY 31, 2003 : (GALLOWAY SUSPENDED) - "Suspended Galloway criticises party ban"
JUNE 5, 2003 : (REPORT : LEFTWINGERS FIGHT TO REINSTATE GALLOWAY)
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