Mr Tony Zureikat

20 December 2005

Q620  Sir Philip Mawer: Right and are you on friendly terms with Fawaz?

Mr Zureikat: Not at this time and we never have been really.

Q621  Sir Philip Mawer: Not at this moment?

Mr Zureikat: Always we have had differences.

Q622  Sir Philip Mawer: So the differences have been a product of what?

Mr Zureikat: Well, before we engaged in a business we always had differences of opinion and views.

Q623  Sir Philip Mawer: On political matters?

Mr Zureikat: Any matters. We hardly agreed on anything, you know. He has got his ways of thinking, tough ones; we are very simple, and we really never agreed on anything and there are a lot of people who do not agree with Fawaz. Fawaz has got his own ways. He is just a difficult person.

Q624  Sir Philip Mawer: Right, so the difficulty in getting on with him is based on a difference of views, is it, rather than any other—?

Mr Zureikat: We have never been in a position like today. Today it is completely different to different views. Today he is on the bad side; I am on the good side, and it is a clear story or a clear position. It is not a difference of opinion, no, Fawaz along with Galloway they committed shameful acts, in our view, and the family's view and the country's view and the Jordanian view and they have got to pay for it. He wants to defend himself and I want to help to get him. It is not like views now, no, it is more.

Q625  Sir Philip Mawer: You think he did wrong things, is what you are saying?

Mr Zureikat: Yes, he did.

Q626  Sir Philip Mawer: For which he needs to be held to account. Is that a correct interpretation?

Mr Zureikat: Exactly, and for my position on this I get many threats from Iraq from his people and my head is wanted over there.

Q627  Sir Philip Mawer: So you are putting yourself in some danger in coming to talk to me today?

Mr Zureikat: It is not because I am talking to you today or I wanted to talk to you today; it is because of my position before I talk to anyone. I am the only one who can talk. There are a lot of people who got paid; I refuse to get paid, and he cannot buy me. There are other family members around him getting paid, getting cars, getting whatever. No, I work for the success, I do not work for the money. Everybody needs money to survive and we are okay on that but this is me and I would not be a cover-up to anybody.

Q628  Sir Philip Mawer: So you are in nobody's pay, is what you are saying?

Mr Zureikat: Yes, yes.

Q629  Sir Philip Mawer: Can you tell me whether you have ever been engaged in business with Fawaz?

Mr Zureikat: Well, I met with Fawaz after my return from the US around August/September of 2001 and I was thinking of going on my own in Iraq and working over there and seeing what was going on. I thought I would not because why should I go to Iraq and establish something over there. I would be going into the unknown and my cousin had been there since 1986, was established and so why not work as a team? I believe in teamwork. We met and we talked and we did not need somebody to get us together, we were cousins, you know, and I did not know at that time what Fawaz was doing in Iraq. All I knew was that Fawaz was doing business. We met and we talked and I told him the areas which I am good at which is the area of water and energy, anything regarding agriculture, irrigation, power stations, I have contacts, construction equipment, everything that falls under the Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq and the United Nations. Fawaz until that moment never got a contract with and I found that. We talked and we agreed that I would go to Iraq and see what was going on and we had the preliminary agreement that we wanted to work through his office and any business I bring is a 50/50 split after expenses and everything. So I went to Iraq and he told me that he was going to Iraq on 7 or 8 October, I think we entered Iraq on 8 October, and he said that George Galloway would be travelling with us.

Q630  Sir Philip Mawer: So he was with you at that time?

Mr Zureikat: Fawaz?

Q631  Sir Philip Mawer: No, George Galloway. When did George Galloway come into the equation?

Mr Zureikat: The travel date was 7 or 8 October.

Q632  Sir Philip Mawer: Of 2001?

Mr Zureikat: Yes. So we met, Fawaz asked me to come to his house while he went to the airport to pick up George Galloway, so the meeting was --- I do not think Galloway was coming from London because his flight arrived before midnight, so we met at 9.30. I was there and a minute later Fawaz and George walked in. He introduced me to George as "my cousin Awni" and told him I was an American citizen. I introduced myself to George. I said, "You can call me Tony if it is easier for you." He said, "No, I prefer to call you Awni." This is the Arabic thing, the Islamic thing, he did not want to call me Tony, he wanted to call me Awni. We talked, we had a coffee or I think a drink, I am not sure. We were waiting on a person. His name was Hazim (H-A-Z-I- M) al-Rasikh (A-L-R-A-S-I-K-H). I think he is related to the Queen of Jordan and his girlfriend is an Iraqi. Her uncle is a General in the Iraqi armed forces. So we got into the car and we travelled to Iraq and we talked a little bit on the way over there and they were drinking, they opened a bottle of whisky. The girl and her boyfriend and George were drinking and for a while they were sleeping and sometimes they woke up because it is about an eight to ten-hour drive from Amman to Baghdad. So we arrived at Baghdad in the morning, and Fawaz and George went to the hotel and I went to the residence of the company over there. That day they went to meet with Aziz immediately and we had dinner in the evening with Fawaz. Galloway was not there, we were waiting for him. He met with Aziz, then he came back to us and he said that the Americans and the British are going to hit tonight and bomb Iraq. He got this information from Tariq Aziz and Aziz told him that all families and everybody there was in the shelters. We sat most evenings waiting for the place to start being bombed. Nothing happened during that evening. George started calling radio stations from Baghdad. I think he called the BBC here and some other American stations and he started telling them that if they bomb Iraq they have no right whatever. It was always his line of speech and really that night he spoke to many reporters, four or five of them. I was not paying attention to him because until that second I did not know what was going on. As a citizen I do not see that the war was necessary, like every citizen, until you give me solid grounds to do so. All citizens are like that and I am one of them. It was not pro-Saddam as much as I do not want to see war in the region. We know what is going on now and I could see it then. We spent that evening, there was no bombing and the second day there were Russian people over there. I started to notice a little bit what was going on from the second day and wondered what were the Russians doing over there? They were working with Fawaz and somebody called them for military radars and chips and whatever. George was also aware of that.

Q633  Sir Philip Mawer: How do you know that he was aware of it?

Mr Zureikat: Because he is sitting there in the conversation talking about the business. He is there. He is sitting there.

Q634  Ms Barry: Talking with the Russians?

Mr Zureikat: Talking with the Russians. He knows very well. You see part of his acceptance in Iraq is his awareness of Fawaz's activities with the military industries.

Q635  Sir Philip Mawer: Are you saying that one of the reasons why he was accepted was because he knew what Fawaz was doing?

Mr Zureikat: One of them, yes, because he knows. It is a military business, he knows very well, and he still goes over there. Then they have the Mariam Appeal thing which I came and was sure was running a year or two before because they have the bus tour.

Q636  Sir Philip Mawer: Can I just stop you before we come on to the Mariam Appeal to conclude in relation to this visit in October 2001. You said that George Galloway had been to see Tariq Aziz on the first day you arrived in Baghdad. Did he give an account of his meeting with Tariq Aziz, can you remember?

Mr Zureikat: All the meetings were to carry messages from here to there, from there to here politically, okay, advice, and in return for those visits and sharing of opinion and advice George Galloway used to go all the time to secure business for Fawaz. In a way he went to Aziz and Aziz called up ministers to meet with George and Fawaz. There are two meetings that I am aware of 100 per cent. One meeting was with the Minister of Agriculture. Fawaz and George met with the Minister of Agriculture. After that meeting Fawaz sent a letter to the Minister of Agriculture to remind the minister of the meeting with George Galloway and it said "according to that meeting, we submit our offer and tender …" and so on and so on and so on.

Q637  Sir Philip Mawer: So you are saying Fawaz followed up the meeting with a letter which was indicating what he would want to tender in respect of a contract he was hoping to get from the Ministry?

Mr Zureikat: With reference to the meeting with George Galloway.

Q638  Sir Philip Mawer: Yes, with reference to the meeting with George. You drew the conclusion from that, did you, that they had discussed that contract at that meeting?

Mr Zureikat: No, there was no conclusion. It was clear in Fawaz's letter.

Q639  Sir Philip Mawer: Clear in the letter.

Mr Zureikat: "After our meeting with George Galloway and our discussion, we submit …" It is not a conclusion, it is there.