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Partridge
01-26-2006, 12:38 PM
Telegraph loses Galloway libel appeal
The Guardian (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/otherparties/story/0,,1695124,00.html)

George Galloway averted bankruptcy yesterday when the Daily Telegraph comprehensively lost its appeal against a libel judgment in his favour and an award of £150,000 damages over allegations that he took money from Saddam Hussein.

Had the newspaper won in the court of appeal, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow would have faced a legal bill of around £2m, a sum he has said would have forced him into bankruptcy.

Mr Galloway still faces two possible inquiries over his dealings with the former Iraqi dictator. The Serious Fraud Office is considering whether to launch a full investigation into his alleged links to the UN oil-for-food scandal. And the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Sir Philip Mawer, said yesterday that he was taking legal advice on whether he could proceed with inquiries into whether the MP broke rules by not declaring benefits received from the Iraqi regime.

Three appeal court judges - the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, and Lords Justices Chadwick and Laws - unanimously dismissed the Telegraph's argument that its allegations in April 2003 were covered by qualified privilege.

That defence, spelled out by Lord Nicholls in a House of Lords case brought against Times Newspapers by the former Irish taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, allows newspapers to escape liability for publishing defamatory statements, even if untrue, if they meet certain conditions.

Sir Anthony said that the Telegraph's reports on the contents of documents found by its correspondent in the Iraqi foreign ministry after the fall of Baghdad were not just neutral reportage.

Mr Justice Eady, the trial judge, had been "particularly struck" by a suggestion that Mr Galloway was guilty of "treason", references to his being "in Saddam's pay", having received "at least £375,000 a year" and being "Saddam's little helper", and the words, "it doesn't get much worse than this", said Sir Anthony.

Mr Justice Eady, who heard the case without a jury, held that the allegations in the newspaper were seriously defamatory, conveying the meaning that Mr Galloway had diverted cash from the aid programme. Sir Anthony said that in his judgment last December, Mr Justice Eady "was plainly right to conclude that the newspaper was not neutral but both embraced the allegations with relish and fervour and went on to embellish them".

The paper asked Mr Galloway for his side of the story, but failed to put to him the central allegation that he had taken money "to line his own pockets", not just for political campaigning or for his Mariam charity appeal, Sir Anthony added. Given the seriousness of that allegation, "we can see no basis upon which this court could interfere with the amount of damages", the judges said.

After his eviction from the Big Brother house last night, Mr Galloway said: "I was delighted to learn that the Daily Telegraph had lost the latest of their appeals ... Maybe now they would have to pay me the very large sum in damages that they have been ordered to pay ... There have been all sorts of allegations ... all of them are false, and if anybody wants to talk to me about them, I'd be happy to do so. Nobody gave me any money for my work on Iraq, except the newspapers who falsely claimed that someone else had."

Mr Galloway, who formerly represented Glasgow Kelvin for Labour, has always denied ever seeking or receiving money from Saddam Hussein. His Algarve house, pictured in the Telegraph, was said in court yesterday to be "fully mortgaged", and his home in Streatham, south London, worth £450,000 "also mortgaged".

The judges refused the paper permission to appeal to the House of Lords, but the Telegraph is considering petitioning the law lords direct. Payment of damages and costs was stayed for now.

Neil Darbyshire, its deputy editor, said: "It is particularly disappointing that the court of appeal, like the original trial judge, appears to accept that there is a significant difference between the allegation that Mr Galloway may have obtained money from the Saddam regime for his 'personal gain', and that he may have obtained money from the Saddam regime for 'political campaigning'. To have obtained money from the regime at all, particularly money from the oil-for-food programme, which was intended to alleviate suffering among the most vulnerable of Iraq's population, would have been the real iniquity - though George Galloway has always denied receiving any money."

Partridge
01-26-2006, 12:41 PM
Galloway may face serious fraud office investigation
The Guardian (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/otherparties/story/0,,1694270,00.html)

George Galloway faces the prospect of a criminal investigation into his activities by the serious fraud office, which has collected evidence relating to the oil-for-food corruption scandal in Iraq.

A four-strong SFO team returned from Washington with what a source close to US investigators calls "thousands of documents" about the scandal. The team is expected to produce, within the next four weeks, a report for the SFO director, Robert Wardle, as to whether a full criminal investigation should be mounted into UK individuals and companies involved, including Mr Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

The SFO is following up two official reports published before Christmas in Washington, which detailed banking evidence that Mr Galloway's wife and his political campaign organisation both received large sums from Saddam Hussein, laundered through under-the-counter oil allocations.

Mr Galloway is unaware of the SFO's activities. He is in the Channel 4 TV show Celebrity Big Brother and cut off from outside contact. He is expected to be evicted from the Big Brother house tonight.

In addition to the SFO's moves, the high court will hear the result of an appeal this morning by the Daily Telegraph against Mr Galloway's £150,000 libel award against the newspaper. In 2003, the newspaper accused him of taking cash from Saddam. Mr Galloway's lawyers were tight-lipped last night over the appeal ruling. If the paper fails today, it may take its case to the Lords, facing the MP with further potential costs in a case where legal fees already exceed £1m.

In turn, today's Telegraph appeal verdict could relaunch a parliamentary investigation into allegations that Mr Galloway broke House of Commons rules by failing to declare benefits he received from the Saddam regime. Mr Galloway persuaded Sir Philip Mawer, parliamentary commissioner for standards, to suspend his investigation because of the litigation.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Sir Philip said: "Once the verdict is known, the commissioner will take fresh legal advice on how best to proceed." The SFO's documents include bank records obtained by a Senate committee. Other Iraqi oil ministry documents have been obtained by the Volcker report into misuse of oil allocations.

Mr Galloway's wife and the MP have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In a previous statement, he said: "I have never seen a barrel of oil, never bought one, never sold one, and neither has anyone on my behalf." His estranged wife, Amineh Abu Zayyad, said: "I have never solicited or received from Iraq or anyone else any proceeds of any oil deals, either for myself or for my former husband."

According to the US inquiries, big oil traders paid secret commissions in return for acquiring Iraqi shipments, which they frequently sold on to major US oil firms. The reports detail records of one alleged transaction in 2000 in which Taurus Petroleum gave $740,000 to Mr Galloway's agent, the businessman Fawwaz Zureikat.

Mr Zureikat distributed the cash in several directions. He kept some himself, and passed some over as a kickback to Saddam's regime.

He also gave $340,000 as a "donation" to Mr Galloway's pro-Iraq campaign, the Mariam Appeal, and another $150,000 to a bank account in Jordan belonging to Mr Galloway's wife. She in turn allegedly transferred $25,000 of that to her own account in London, though she denies the transaction. The Guardian tried to put the SFO allegations to Mr Galloway but Channel 4 refused to pass them on, saying: "We don't pass anything into the house unless something horrible has happened."

When the Volcker report came out 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 ... A lie doesn't become a truth through repetition."

Last night a spokesman for Mr Galloway said: "There is no crime to investigate. This is politically motivated, specious, frippery. It is a total waste of public money."

Partridge
01-26-2006, 12:42 PM
Galloway attacks his Big Brother critics
The Guardian (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,1695364,00.html)

The Respect party leader, George Galloway, angrily turned on his political and media opponents today, accusing them of "sanctimonious humbug" for criticising his participation in Celebrity Big Brother.

The MP for Bethnal Green, who hasn't slept since being evicted from the reality TV show last night, told Channel 4's Big Brother's Little Brother that his condemnation was hypocritical and disproportionate.

"They seem to have got it all out of proportion," he said.

"There are so many things happening in the world and they seem to have been devoting acres of newsprint to a reality TV show."

Mr Galloway provoked widespread ridicule during his 21-day stay in Big Brother for dancing in an unflattering red leotard and pretending to be a cat licking milk from the hands of actress Rula Lenska.

Defending his behaviour, the Respect leader pointed out that famous people acted the fool for Children in Need without being criticised as he dismissed his own press coverage as politically motivated.

"The way they have been going at me would suggest that they think they have something to fear from me and the Respect party - and some of the sanctimonious humbug I have seen in the press..."

"The British parliament is full of people who jet around the world on fact-finding junkets to exotic places every day of the week and they are never hauled over the coals," Mr Galloway claimed.

Hearing for the first time that the Labour chief whip had been petitioning his constituents in Bethnal Green and Bow demanding he return to the House of Commons Mr Galloway expressed amazement.

He also denied Labour party-inspired accusations that he was drawing his MP's salary during his three-week stint, saying he had not had the chance to tell anyone before entering the house that he wasn't being paid his normal wages.

After his eviction, Mr Galloway also spoke of his delight at learning the Daily Telegraph had lost its appeal against the libel damages.

He said: "I was delighted to learn that the Daily Telegraph had lost the latest in a line of appeals.

"I thought momentarily that they would have to pay me the very large amount in damages that they were ordered to by the court today, but that must now await their attempt to appeal to the House of Lords. But hey, it's money in the bank."

Asked about the news that he could face investigation as part of a Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the Iraq oil-for-food corruption scandal, he said he had "said all I've got to say on that in the past".

He went on: "There have been all sort of allegations in relation to the oil-for-food programme. All of them are false. "If anybody wants to talk to me about them I will of course be delighted to do so.

"The bottom line is nobody ever gave me any money for my work in Iraq except the newspapers that foolishly alleged that someone else had done so.

"Now those newspapers have had to pay out millions of pounds of damages and costs."

He was also asked whether he felt spending time inside the Big Brother house was more important than his parliamentary duties.

He replied: "I represent a different kind of politics. I don't believe that talking to parliamentarians, the current crop of parliamentarians, is very important.

"Our task is to take politics to the people. That's what I do for a living, and that's what I will continue to do."

But Mr Galloway was angered by the way in which his political speeches were censored by the Big Brother producers: "I am very sorry and a little bit cross about that."

Mr Galloway's eviction was watched by 6.5 million viewers - the show's biggest audience since launch night - and his exit was seen by 26% of TV viewers.

Partridge
01-26-2006, 12:45 PM
[Partridge: And this is just petty!]

Galloway cat stunt by Labour Party
Ireland Online (http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=170634552&p=y7x635z58)

British Labour activists poked fun at George Galloway’s Big Brother appearance today, by delivering cat food to his home and party office.

Three girls dressed in cat masks pulled up at his home in Cheshire Street, east London, in a silver Saab convertible with Tom Jones’ hit What’s New Pussycat blaring from the stereo.

The stunt, organised by the Tower Hamlets branch of the Labour Party, was aimed at mocking the Respect MP’s Big Brother antics, which saw him pretending to lap up milk from actress Rula Lenska’s hand.

The three “cats” then drove to the Respect headquarters in nearby Club Row to deliver 96 tins of Whiskas cat food.

Mr Galloway’s parliamentary assistant, Rob Hoveman, answered the door and asked: “What is this sad little stunt?

“From Mr Tony Blair, is it? You are all from the Labour Party.

“He doesn’t have any cats but I’m sure, if you take this to a cat’s home, they will appreciate it.”

Half a dozen Labour Party members and local residents held up placards outside the Respect office.

They showed the front page of The Evening Standard newspaper with the headline “No respect”.

They shouted that they wanted Mr Galloway to do his job and “represent the people that elected you”.

One member shouted: “The average wage here is £200 (€291.40) per week. You are a disgrace.”