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Galloway challenges U.S. Senators

Ewen MacAskill
and Julian Borger

British MP ready to fly to Washington to confront charges

London/Washington: The British MP George Galloway angrily rejected fresh allegations on Monday from a U.S. Senate investigation that he had lied under oath about the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein's multi-million dollar oil-for-food programme.

The inquiry, headed by Republican Norm Coleman, claimed he had ``knowingly made false or misleading statements under oath'' when he appeared before a committee hearing in Washington in May.

The MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in east London won widespread acclaim, especially from anti-Iraq war campaigners, when he flew to the U.S. capital to confront Mr. Coleman.

An assistant to Mr. Galloway, Ron McKay, who sat beside him at the Senate hearing, said on Monday that the MP was prepared to fly to Washington again to face the new allegations. ``If such an allegation has been made, George denies it absolutely and is ready to fly to the U.S. tomorrow if Coleman brings these charges and it will all be sorted in court,'' he said.

At loggerheads

Mr Galloway, who was forced out of the Labour party because of anti-war comments, and the Senator have been at loggerheads since the Senate began its inquiry into oil-for-food, a United Nations humanitarian programme intended to alleviate Iraqi suffering from sanctions.

The latest report from the committee claims: Galloway personally solicited and was granted oil allocations from the Government of Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein. The Hussein regime granted Galloway and the Mariam Appeal (an organisation he set up to help Iraqis suffering from sanctions) eight allocations totalling 23 million barrels from 1999 through to 2003; Galloway's wife, Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad, received $150,000 in connection with one of those oil allocations; Galloway's political campaign, the Mariam Appeal, received at least $446,000 in connection with the oil allocations granted to Galloway and the Mariam Appeal under the oil-for-food programme; Galloway knowingly made false or misleading statements under oath before the sub-committee.

Mr Galloway said on Monday night: ``There is not a shred of truth in any of these allegations. There has been no impropriety and I have not received even one thin dime from the oil-for-food programme.'' — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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