Galloway charity criticised over oil-for-food funds

[bemildred]

Source: Independent UK

I'll bet you thought they would give up on Galloway and the oil for food program.

An appeal set up by several trustees including the MP George Galloway received "significant" donations from "improper transactions" under the United Nation's oil-for-food programme for Iraq, a Charity Commission report said yesterday.

An investigation by the voluntary sector watchdog concluded that trustees of the Mariam Appeal, who included Mr Galloway and his former wife Dr Aminah Abu-Zayyad, were not sufficiently vigilant and "did not properly discharge their duty of care as trustees to the Appeal in respect of these donations".

The Charity Commission said that overall it was satisfied that the funds received by the charity were spent on the charity's humanitarian purpose. It said that the trustees who responded to the inquiry (including George Galloway) deny any wrong-doing..

The report is the latest chapter in allegations involving money from the UN oil-for-food programme, the Mariam Appeal and the Respect Party MP for Bethnal Green and Bow. Previous inquiries by the US Senate and the UN claimed that large sums of money from the programme has been put into the fund. Two years ago, in a previous report, the Charity Commission investigated claims that Appeal funds had been used for non-charitable purposes but found no evidence to suggest money had been misused.

Read more: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2631533.ece

[bemildred]

1. Regulator says Galloway Iraq fund had illicit oil cash

LONDON (Reuters) - A humanitarian fund established by maverick MP George Galloway received at least $376,000 (190,000 pounds) of illicit income from the U.N. oil-for-food programme for Iraq, the Charity Commission said on Friday.

Galloway, who set up his appeal in 1998 to aid sick Iraqi children and was also one of its trustees, said the Commission's conclusions were "palpably false" and dismissed its report as sloppy and misleading.

The British regulator said the Mariam Appeal had been given the money in donations by one of its trustees, Fawaz Zureikat.

It said Zureikat, a Jordanian businessman and friend of Galloway, paid the money between 2000 and 2002 out of commissions he had received from oil companies obtaining allocations of Iraqi oil.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0783566820070607?rpc=401&

[Kagemusha]

2. So the money was ACTUALLY SPENT ON CHARITY but it's still "bad"?

What garbage is this?

[bemildred]

3. The disobedient must be punished.

All the bills had "Illicit" stamped on them in red ink. On maybe the wire transfers had the "illicit" bit set, or something equally stupid.

[youngdem]

4. I cannot believe they dug this shit up again.

I am sure he will be happy to go and kick some government ass again.

Sure the fuck was funny watching him make a Republican very nearly cry and adjourn the hearing only to run away and cancel the rest of it.

These pro-war neo-crazies really are fucking nuts with this revenge thing.

[bemildred]

5. Seems to be exactly the same old sh*t too.

It's like a recording.