Dr Burhan Mahmoud Al-Chalabi

20 April 2006

Q120  Sir Philip Mawer: …..in February of 2000 an offer was made by the Sheikh of Dubai.

Dr Al-Chalabi: The offer was made earlier but it materialised in February.

Q121  Sir Philip Mawer: Okay, it became a reality in February 2000 that Emirates would provide a flight.

Dr Al-Chalabi: Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum.

Q122  Sir Philip Mawer: So you did not any longer need the $400,000 for that purpose?

Dr Al-Chalabi: That is correct.

Mr Al-Mukhtar: That is correct.

Q123  Sir Philip Mawer: And therefore you decided that money should be set aside from the $400,000.

Dr Al-Chalabi: For this lady.

Q124  Sir Philip Mawer: For Dr Abu-Zayyed.

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.

Q125  Sir Philip Mawer: And my understanding is that payments were made—well, in fact, from before February. From January through to June of 2000 payments were made to Dr Abu-Zayyed.

Dr Al-Chalabi: Because when the sheikh sent news that he will offer the flight, I took it for granted that—I knew the people very well there. I mean, I knew that they would give the flight.

Q126  Sir Philip Mawer: Right, so you were confident that the moment the offer was made the flight would materialise?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.

Q127  Sir Philip Mawer: And since that offer had been made, though it did not materialise till February, it had been made before January,—

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.

Q128  Sir Philip Mawer: …. you felt at that point that the money could be diverted or redirected for other purposes?

Dr Al-Chalabi: For humanitarian purposes.

Q129  Sir Philip Mawer: We have accounted for $120,000 of the money which, if my maths is any good, leaves $280,000, out of the total of round about $400,000 you got, unaccounted for in the sense that we have not found a home for it yet. What happened to the $280,000, the balance of the $400,000 that was left after you had helped Dr Abu-Zayyd?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Is that relevant to this inquiry?

Q130  Sir Philip Mawer: It is relevant if it involved any payments to other humanitarian causes and/or activities associated with Mr Galloway. It is relevant in that sense.

Dr Al-Chalabi: I can assure you none of it went to Mr Galloway or anything to do with Mr Galloway.

Q131  Sir Philip Mawer: Did any of the money go to the Mariam appeal?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Not to the Mariam appeal.

Q132  Sir Philip Mawer: Directly or indirectly?

Dr Al-Chalabi: No. Once the flight was cancelled the only thing I had with Mr Galloway was that flight. I had my own humanitarian work. He had his own style. We just parted company and we went our separate ways.

Q133  Sir Philip Mawer: So the $280,000 was, according to you,—can I ask you this? Was it used for a humanitarian purpose?

Dr Al-Chalabi: To help the Iraqi people, yes.

Q134  Sir Philip Mawer: But not in any matter associated with Mr Galloway?

Dr Al-Chalabi: None whatsoever.

Q135  Sir Philip Mawer: We have spoken a lot about the contract M/07/83. I am sorry; I think I do need to press you about where the money went. I am still left with a question mark because you have told me it was used for a humanitarian purpose and therefore there is no implication that you were pocketing the money which, had I not asked that question of you, there might have been, but now on the record you have said it was used for a humanitarian purpose. Where did the money go if it was not used? You have said it was not used for Mr Galloway, it was not used for the Mariam appeal. Why can you not tell me, given that it was used for a humanitarian purpose, where it went?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Because you invited me to assist you in this inquiry about complaints against George Galloway and I can assure you categorically that not a cent went to George Galloway, George Galloway's associates, the Mariam appeal or anything to do with George Galloway.

Q136  Sir Philip Mawer: Okay; I will not press you any further.

Mr Al-Mukhtar: Could I just, by way of background—in the first instance this commission could have gone, all of it, to Dr Chalabi. He is a commission agent; he is entitled to take the money. When Fortum paid the commission, this commission could have all gone to Dr Chalabi. He did not have to give it to the flight or to Dr Amineh or anybody. He could have taken it, so it is not that he has taken money from anybody. It is his commission; he could have kept it, but he felt that this commission, he did not want to use it for himself, he wanted to use it for the causes that he was doing, so there was the flight first of all, that did not work, so he gave Dr Abu-Zayyad, Amineh, some of the money. The rest of the money he dealt with in his own way. As he has said, it is nothing to do with anybody. It is not that this commission was due to somebody which he has taken.

Q137  Sir Philip Mawer: I am not questioning Dr Al-Chalabi's motives and I am not questioning his commitment to the humanitarian cause which he believed related to the interests of the Iraqi people under the sanctions regime, and I do not want you or Dr Al-Chalabi to be in any doubt about that. We have talked about the oil contract, M/07/83. Were you the recipient of any other contracts either under the oil-for-food programme or under its humanitarian equivalent?

Dr Al-Chalabi: No. That was the only contract. I was going to say before you asked me the question, because I have brought some photographs; I do not know whether it is appropriate for me to leave them with you, of the kind of damage which was being caused by depleted uranium. They are not very pretty pictures [indicating photographs]. They are kids who were born in the nineties like this [indicating], and the Iraqi kids in my generation were healthy and clever and well-fed and everything, and that broke my heart [photographs handed]. It also broke my heart because it is very relevant to me because I lost my only son in 1991, so I was committed really in my heart to helping children, not only the Iraqi children but other children in this country as well.

Q138  Sir Philip Mawer: I am grateful for that. I will look at these photographs and, as I have already made clear, I am not questioning in any of my questions put to you your commitment to the concerns or concern that you had about these children. I asked you about other contracts.

Dr Al-Chalabi: I have not done any business with Iraq, no.

Q139  Sir Philip Mawer: No other business dealings, and this was the only commission arrangement you had?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.