While British left-wing politician George Galloway throws his trademark verbal jabs at US senators, such as Senator Norm Coleman who alleges Galloway took part in the far-reaching oil-for-food scandal, the United Nations released a report in New York City that alleges he received millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein.
The UN investigation headed by American national Paul Volcker claims that Galloway received a voucher for up to18 million barrels of crude oil from Saddam's regime. In addition, the report alleges that $120,000 from oil sales was paid into the bank account of Galloway's wife. This is separate from the $150,000 put into his wife's account that Senator Norm Coleman alleges as a result of the US senate subcommittee investigation. Galloway's and his wife, Amineh Abu Zayyad, are currently in the midst of divorce proceedings.
As soon as the Volcker report was released yesterday, a growing number of British officials began demanding a Parliament investigation into allegations against Galloway by the United States and by the United Nations. One official even compared Galloway to a wartime traitor and Nazi propagandist.
Mr. Volcker refused to speak to reporters about the alleged transactions detailed in his report, but sources in New York say there may be several more charges leveled at George Galloway.
The report states that payments of $445,000 were channeled through the "Mariam Appeal," a charity set up by Galloway to assist Iraqi leukaemia victims. The charity eventually evolved into a left-wing pressure group with the aim of ending sanctions against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The illegal transactions were facilitated by a wealthy Jordanian businessman, Fawaz Zurakait, who is suspected of being the intermediary between Galloway and the Saddam regime for the Iraqi oil allocations.
Mr. Galloway continues to deny any wrongdoing and continues to attack the credibility of the charges. An ultra-liberal politician, Galloway is one of the key figures in the global anti-war movement. He's been quoted saying that President George W. Bush is a terrorist and that the United States is an imperialist nation. He's also been known to be an apologist for Islamic terrorists and is an avowed opponent of Israel.
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Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.