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Telegraph loses case against MP

Hasan Suroor

Claim of report's public interest rejected

LONDON: George Galloway, the controversial British MP who has been battling allegations of having received kickbacks under Iraq's oil-for-food programme, scored a legal victory on Wednesday when the The Daily Telegraph lost a court appeal against him in a libel case.

The newspaper had appealed against the £150,000 damages awarded to Mr. Galloway in 2004 after he had sued it for printing a report in April 2003 alleging that he had received money from the erstwhile Saddam Hussein regime.

Evidence claimed

It had claimed that the story was based on documents found in Iraqi government offices after the fall of the Saddam Government.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal rejected The Telegraph's argument that its report was in public interest and therefore covered by "qualified privilege''. The judges ruled that they saw no basis for reducing the damages awarded by High Court judge Justice Eady in December 2004.

"Given the seriousness of the key allegation (that) Mr. Galloway had taken money from Iraq for personal profit, we can see no basis upon which this court should interfere with the amount of damages," they said.

The ruling came as a boost for Mr. Galloway who is facing the prospects of being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in connection with the oil-for-food kickback allegations.

In a statement after the Volcker Committee report was published, Mr. Galloway said: "How many times must I repeat this: I've never had a penny through oil deals and no one has produced a shred of evidence that I have.'' Mr. Galloway founded his own anti-war Respect Party after he was expelled from Labour for allegedly urging British troops not to fight in Iraq. His anti-invasion stance was vindicated at last year's general election when he won an East London seat defeating the sitting Labour MP Oona King.

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