Mr George Galloway

30 November 2006

Q540  Sir Philip Mawer: Yet your position when we met previously was that you did not believe that Mr Fawaz Zureikat was in the business of obtaining contracts or extending his business by using your name in the process. Is that still your view?

Mr Galloway: Until you showed me this, it was. If this is authentic then that obviously changes my view, but I do not know that it is authentic. It looks fairly scant, if you will forgive me.

Q541  Sir Philip Mawer: It is a short letter.

Mr Galloway: Is that how they did business, shorthand written letters?

Q542  Sir Philip Mawer: I do not know. Not being in the business of trading in Iraq myself, I am not sure, but it appears to be a formal letter referring to a tender previously made.

Mr McKay: We do not know what the tender is for.

Mr Galloway: Or which company it is.

Q543  Sir Philip Mawer: The translation[50] that we have—and we have had the document independently translated—is on the front.

Mr Galloway: Did you misstate the Al-Yamamah point or are there really two companies here that we are talking about?

Q544  Sir Philip Mawer: I know no more in relation to the nature of the companies.

Mr Galloway: It does not say that on this.

Q545  Sir Philip Mawer: No, but it does refer to—

Mr McKay: It refers to two different companies.

Mr Galloway: Forgive me, I owe you an apology.

Q546  Sir Philip Mawer: They are not precisely the same name, therefore they may be different companies. One possibility might be—

Mr Galloway: They are wildly different. Al-Alameya and Al-Yamamah mean very, very different things. I am sure they are different.

Q547  Sir Philip Mawer: I am sure they are and relate to different tenders. So, we do not believe they are the same company.

Mr Galloway: I am absolutely sure there were people claiming proximity to me in Baghdad for their own purpose, just as the South West schoolteacher was. I am sorry about it but that is not my responsibility. I am not in any way connected to it. It is very dangerous that people are claiming to be representing me. I trusted Mr Zureikat until I had this brought to my attention. I did not have any reason to distrust him but I am surprised at this, if it is authentic.

Q548  Sir Philip Mawer: Mr Tony Zureikat alleges in his evidence that you lobbied the Minister of Information and met with the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to a tender for a radio equipment contract which I believe to be from Thomson and Thales.

Mr Galloway: That is completely false.

Q549  Sir Philip Mawer: You knew Fawaz Zureikat was involved in Iraq doing business for Thomson, you said as much to me when we last met.

Mr Galloway: It was a very big business worth tens of millions of pounds. I knew he was involved because I heard him speaking about it but that is all I know. Television is very profitable.

Q550  Sir Philip Mawer: You have never lobbied on his behalf?

Mr Galloway: Just to clarify this, do we know if these tenders have been filed under the UN Sanctions Committee?

Q551  Sir Philip Mawer: We do not as of this point because you will appreciate getting hard information about these matters is not easy. It is entirely possible that they were never filed.

Mr Galloway: It is possible. You can go to the UN Sanctions Committee website and look up that reference and see if it corresponds.

Q552  Sir Philip Mawer: They remain as stated in the letters. In relation to the evidence of Mr Zureikat—I need to put the other principal allegation to you to give you an opportunity to respond to it—have you ever met with the Minister for Oil on behalf of Mr Zureikat?

Mr Galloway: On this I can state unequivocally that I have never met any Minister for Oil in Iraq.

Q553  Sir Philip Mawer: In relation to Morocco, you said in your letter of 1 November that you had not travelled to Morocco very often.

Mr Galloway: Yes.

Q554  Sir Philip Mawer: In the period that you could have been in Morocco at the same time as Mr Zureikat, can you tell me how many times you have been to Morocco?

Mr Galloway: In that period?

Q555  Sir Philip Mawer: Yes.

Mr Galloway: One or two times. Paradoxically, I have been more often since the war. Perhaps six times in my life, starting in 1974. I have never been there at the same time as Zureikat.

Q556  Sir Philip Mawer: If we take the period as being from the end of 1999, starting at 2000, is it your evidence that you have been there once or twice?

Mr Galloway: Yes, between that period.

Q557  Sir Philip Mawer: And the start of the war?

Mr Galloway: Before the fall of the regime in Baghdad, I am not sure, but it would be possible to check that. My recollection is that they do stamp passports, so you could check that. They are written in Arabic so it might be difficult, but you could look for the Moroccan stamps.

Q558  Sir Philip Mawer: Can I ask if there are any other points relating to Mr Tony Zureikat's evidence?

Mr Galloway: It is clear from the evidence that he has been working with the Americans. I have told you—and you can check this—that he is wanted for a series of criminal allegations in Jordan. He is politically motivated, he is financially motivated, and he is familially motivated, he is a cousin of Fawaz. I do not know if they are first or second cousins, but it is clear that he is determined to play a role in damaging both his cousin and I. He is a reprobate and a liar and I have given you salient examples of how he is a liar. He lied about me drinking whiskey with a member of the Jordanian Royal Family, about drinking vodka with the Russians, about Dr Abu-Zayyad crossing the bridge from Palestine to Jordan for money collection and deposit and he lied about the trip to Morocco. That in itself must cast severe doubts as to his credibility.

Q559  Sir Philip Mawer: Did you share the transcript of his evidence with anyone?

Mr Galloway: I shared it with Dr Abu-Zayyad, informing her about the allegations made about her.