Mr David Blair

14 August 2003

Q240  Sir Philip Mawer: You were following the trails?

Mr David Blair: We were following the trail. So what we did in the space of a few hours was we put together—we completed—the links in the paper trail. We put it all together. And then it became obvious to me what the follow-up story was, which was the reply, Saddam's reply to the document forwarded to his office by the Mukhabarat chief. So that formed the material for the second day's story.

Q241  Sir Philip Mawer: Focusing on the first—I mean, I have here a photocopy of the Telegraph of the twenty-second of April with the documents in it translated,[9] the translation of the key document in it. And the—you said a moment ago that Mr Galloway had said he, you know, wanted more money. I'm paraphrasing, but my impression of the document is that it was Mr Zureikat who was the envoy of Mr Galloway, who was the channel for the alleged expression of Mr Galloway's views and wishes. That was that document …

Mr David Blair: I think I recall rightly that in the second half of the document there is a description of a meeting in which Galloway was a participant, allegedly, taking place on Boxing Day '99.

Q242  Sir Philip Mawer: This is the Boxing Day '99 meeting?

Mr David Blair: Yes and my recollection is that the document outlined Mr Galloway himself making a request first of all for a greater share of the profits—I'm just speaking from memory here—a greater share of the profits from oil sales, and secondly for contracts with a number of named Iraqi government ministries …

Q243  Sir Philip Mawer: Correct. Both are correct. You are correct in what you've just said and there's also a recording in the same—or a reference in the beginning of the same document—to Mr Zureikat making various requests on behalf of, as it appears, Mr Galloway. So the … you obviously subsequently visited the foreign ministry building because we saw the Channel 4 footage?

Mr David Blair: Exactly. Yes.

Q244  Sir Philip Mawer: You got past the guards at that point?

Mr David Blair: Yes. What happened was that I was rung up by the BBC and various other people and I arranged to meet them outside the foreign ministry. I think it was at about lunchtime on the Tuesday. The camera crews sweet-talked the guards and allowed them to … and they decided to let us in. So I went in with several camera crews in tow. And you saw exactly what I did. I showed them round and showed them the room where I found it.

Q245  Sir Philip Mawer: Right. The documents were under your control at all points following your discovery of them—question?

Mr David Blair: Yes, from the moment I discovered the crucial document, which was late on Saturday night,[10] that particular file stayed with me.[11] At one stage I was even carrying it around under my arm. I must have looked rather strange carrying this thing around. So they stayed with me.

Q246  Sir Philip Mawer: And you mentioned, earlier in our conversation, that at one point you—that immediately after you'd first found the documents you left them in your hotel room but had locked the door.

Mr David Blair: That's right.

Q247  Sir Philip Mawer: There was no evidence that, I mean, could they have been tampered with during that period?

Mr David Blair: No. I don't think so.

Q248  Sir Philip Mawer: There was no sign of …

Mr David Blair: No. But at that stage the hotel I was staying in was not being too assiduous about having cleaners going into rooms and sprucing them up.

Q249  Sir Philip Mawer: There was no …

Mr David Blair: I don't believe anyone entered the room in my absence.

Q250  Sir Philip Mawer: And you eventually got the documents, brought the documents back here?

Mr David Blair: Yes, what we decided was that I would take all the documents relating to Britain, including obviously the crucial file. I would bring those back with me. I would leave everything else, which was principally the material relating to France, for my successor to look at. My successor arrived—Alex Spillius arrived—I think it was on the Wednesday …

Q251  Sir Philip Mawer: The twenty-third?

Mr David Blair: Yes. I went to see him on Wednesday evening, taking all the French material. I gave it to him at the Palestine Hotel, put them in his room at the Palestine Hotel. And then very early on the Thursday morning at about six am I left for Kuwait. The—there were five folders in all, pale blue folders relating to Britain. So I had those packed in my bags and I drove—we—it was a rather complicated journey—I drove with my photographer so that we would have a witness if anything went wrong. We drove to Nasaria in Southern Iraq. There I met another Telegraph correspondent who had been in Basra but was leaving the country. I transferred into his vehicle. We drove together to Kuwait City. We spent that night in Kuwait City in the Marmot Hotel. The following morning we got a flight to London.

Q252  Sir Philip Mawer: Thank you. Can I just ask you—I mean, thank you for that very full and detailed account. I mean it's impossible, of course, reading your reports[12]—excellent though they are—to get that kind of flavour of the details …

Mr David Blair: Sure. Of course, of course.

Q253  Sir Philip Mawer: … which, you know, again, is important when you're coming to assess the weight of the circumstantial evidence. Mr Galloway's main response to the alleged content of the documents has been to deny that he's ever received any money—personally. He always make that, I think, distinction personally, emphasises that point. And he's suggested that they are forgeries. Now we've dealt with the forgery question and, I mean, as regards receiving the money personally, that's a matter which only he can reply to. I can't, it's not—I'm thinking out loud here—it's not fair for me to ask you a question about that because you were not in a position to know. It's a matter for him and for—indeed I have already put the question to him about that, questions about that. Which I think brings me just to one other area that I'd like to just touch on with you which is briefly, and I did flag this up earlier, the question of what we know about Mr Zureikat. He seems a key figure in this story.

Mr David Blair: Yes.

Q254  Sir Philip Mawer: (a) because if the document is correct, you know, he—I mean, well (a) Mr Galloway has never denied, I think, the authenticity of the letter[13] which nominates Mr Zureikat as his representative in Baghdad. I've never seen any such denial. Again I await any, await a formal response from him about that. But …

Mr David Blair: My belief—I'd have to check this—but my belief is that when our parliamentary correspondent spoke to him he confirmed the authenticity of that letter.

Q255  Sir Philip Mawer: Well I'm certain—I've put it more negatively—anyway nobody has, I think, called it into question.

Mr David Blair: And that was stapled to the crucial one. It was actually attached to it and actually stapled …

Q256  Sir Philip Mawer: To the Iraqi … the intelligence?

Mr David Blair: It was actually stapled to and referred to in that document.

Q257  Sir Philip Mawer: Right. So he's crucial from that perspective. He's crucial because he features in the key document, as you've described it. And he's crucial because it appears that he was the means—not only was he the representative, as it were, but he was the means—through which, if what the documents allege is correct, the money was got to Mr Galloway or to causes which he favoured.

Mr David Blair: Yes

Q258  Sir Philip Mawer: And it is, of course, one possible explanation of the content of the papers not that the money was being put into Mr Galloway's own pocket, but that it was going to support activities which—in which—Mr Galloway was very much involved—the Mariam Appeal and British Iraq Friendship Society and so on, which—in which—Mr Galloway was a key figure, so that he was reaping the benefit indirectly, if you like, in that way. I've read, obviously, what's been in the paper about Mr Zureikat. Is there anything more you can, you know, tell me about him as a figure, from your knowledge of Iraq, Baghdad and so on? Have you, did you, come across him as a figure? As Alda's just said you were in Amman for a period. Mr Galloway paints him as a prominent, you know, Middle East businessman.

Mr David Blair: The first I heard of him was when I saw him referred to in the documents which I have described. I never heard of him before then. Subsequently friends of mine, other journalists, said to me that yes they knew him and that yes he had helped them at various stages to get visas to go to Iraq. So I think that what Galloway was saying was essentially accurate. He had helped quite a lot of journalists.

Q259  Sir Philip Mawer: So he's a man who had contacts in Iraq, that would suggest—I mean, he knew people in high places who could swing things in the … whether it was visas or whatever?

Mr David Blair: Yes, yes. Subsequently friends of mine came to me and said "Oh yes, we know Fawaz quite well, he helped me to get a visa on this occasion." And there were quite a number of people who he had helped in that way. But not me. I never, I never, I'd never heard of the guy at all.

10   Note from the Witness:I should have said 'late on Sunday night'. Back

11   Note from the Witness:I should, perhaps, have mentioned that there was a period of between 1 and 2 hours on Wednesday 23 April, the day after we first published the story, during which I felt it best to entrust the relevant folder to a close friend and colleague. At the time, I was the focus of considerable media attention. This made me feel vulnerable and fear for the security of the folder. I was anxious that someone might seize it from me or attempt to break into my hotel room. So I entrusted it to Philip Reeves of the Independent newspaper. He was staying in the same hotel as me on the floor below. Throughout this brief period he kept the folder with him in his locked hotel room. Back

12   Volume II, WE 1 and 4-8. Back

13   Volume II, WE 6. Back