MP Galloway rapped over donations to Mariam fund

Published on Friday 8 June 2007 01:49

GEORGE Galloway was rapped by a charity watchdog yesterday for failing properly to vet donations made to his Iraqi charity.

The Charity Commission found donations to the Respect MP's Mariam appeal, totalling tens of thousands of pounds, were funded with money linked to the United Nations oil-for-food scandal.

But Mr Galloway and the other trustees of the appeal failed in their duty of care to adequately scrutinise the "improper" payments.

It also warned Mr Galloway and the other trustees could be "made to recover funds improperly given" - although the commission itself is not taking any further action.

Its findings are embarrassing for the Respect MP, who has successfully defended himself against accusations he might have profited personally from the oil-for-food programme.

And the commission's report concludes that the money was used for humanitarian causes.

Mr Galloway has denied wrongdoing throughout and last night issued a statement, stressing the appeal was never meant to be a charity.

He said: "The claim that the Mariam Appeal's humanitarian and political campaigning was funded improperly is palpably false.

"The man who is claimed to be the source of 'improper donations' - Fawaz Zureikat - denies any wrongdoing, has never been charged with any wrongdoing, travels freely in the US and continues to do business in Iraq under the puppet government and its Anglo-US masters."

The Mariam Appeal was set up to help a young Iraqi girl who had leukaemia and needed treatment. Mr Galloway used her case to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Iraq during the time sanctions were imposed on the country.

In total, the appeal received nearly 1.5 million. Nearly 252,000 of the donations were traced to deals struck under the oil-for-food programme by Mr Zureikat, a Jordanian businessman and a trustee of the appeal.

In its report, the commission said: "As Mr Zureikat made his donations to the appeal from commissions and other payments derived from the [oil for food] programme, the commission has concluded that these donations came from improper sources."

Under the UN programme, oil companies entered into agreements with the then Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation for the allocations of Iraqi oil.

The money under the UN programme was meant to be strictly for humanitarian use by the Iraqi government, headed at the time by Saddam Hussein, when its economy was crippled by sanctions.

But there were suspicions that organisations were given oil-for-food oil contracts, which were then sold on the open market for a profit, allowing the company to cream off commission, in exchange for secret kickbacks to the Iraqi regime.