Aziz denies naming Galloway

[cynatnite]

AMMAN (Reuters) - Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz has denied telling investigators that maverick British politician George Galloway profited from the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, Aziz's lawyer said on Saturday.

U.S. congressional investigators said this week they had evidence that Galloway profited from the defunct U.N. program created to protect Iraqis from the harsh effects of sanctions against their government.

The U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, also named Galloway in a report issued this week as one of several politicians who were given favors by Saddam.

Congressional investigators said that, under questioning Aziz, said he had discussed oil allocations with Galloway and confirmed the authenticity of a letter in which the British member of parliament requested a bigger oil allocation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051029/wl_nm/iraq_aziz_lawyer_dc

[mrfrapp]

1. Earlier Report

A report from the Independent earlier this week says this:

George Galloway faces fresh allegations of benefiting from Saddam Hussein's regime in a report into corruption in the United Nation's oil-for-food programme for Iraq.

An independent investigation by the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker has charged that the MP received an allocation of 18 million barrels of oil from the regime. It also claims that $120,000 (£67,000) in revenues from oil sales was paid into the bank account of Mr Galloway's estranged wife.

...snip...

However, Mr Volcker has not produced any evidence that any money was paid directly into accounts held by Mr Galloway. The report also acknowledges that "both Mr Galloway and Mr Zureikat have denied that Mr Galloway was involved in obtaining the oil allocations or receiving any proceeds from the oil sales".

...snip...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article322855.ece

If there's no evidence that Galloway received money, why is he mentioned in the report? It's ridiculous. The nearest they've come to producing new evidence is to say that his wife of the time received money. In other words, Volker and Coleman would have us believe that Dr Amineh Abu Zayyad's bank account and George Gallway's bank account are one and the same, presumably because she was his wife at the time. I have to say, I find this line of reasoning vaguely misogynistic.

[LynnTheDem]

2. Heh...GUESS who Volcker got the documents from???

Ahmed "THANKS, SUCKERS!"...

CHALABI.

[texpatriot2004]

3. Chalabi = ZERO CREDIBILITY nm