British MP George Galloway has strongly denied a newspaper report that he received money from Saddam Hussein's regime.
Galloway said the report was libellous and he would instruct his lawyers to launch legal proceedings against the newspaper.
The Daily Telegraph said it had discovered Iraqi intelligence documents which suggested Galloway took a slice of Iraq's oil-for-food program worth at least £375,000 per annum.
According to the report, the details emerged in a confidential memo to Saddam from Iraq's intelligence chief written in January 2000. It said the documents were found by one of its journalists in the looted foreign ministry in Baghdad.
In a statement, Galloway, MP for Glasgow Kelvin, insisted the documents were either forged or doctored and were aimed at discrediting him because of his opposition to the war on Iraq. "I have never solicited nor received money from Iraq for our campaign against war and sanctions," he said. "I have never seen a barrel of oil, never owned one, never bought one, never sold one."
Galloway added that the newspaper's claim that he had met Iraqi intelligence officials was incorrect "to the best of my knowledge". "Given that I have had access over the years to Iraq's political leadership, most often the deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, I would have absolutely no reason to be meeting with an official of Iraqi intelligence." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
