An English newspaper has published more allegations of links between anti-war politician George Galloway and Saddam Hussein, after the MP dismissed a claim that he had been paid by Iraq as "absolutely ludicrous".
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Galloway: facing more allegations
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Today's edition of the
The Daily Telegraph
claims a document found by one of its reporters in Iraq's looted Foreign Ministry showed that the Iraqi leader had rejected a request for more money from the British member of parliament three years ago.
In a similar report yesterday, the paper claimed Galloway had received 375,000 pounds a year in payoffs from the Iraqi government under the UN-backed oil-for-food programme.
Galloway, a left-wing member of Tony Blair's Labour Party, responded to that report by saying he was suing the The Daily Telegraphfor libel. The paper confirmed it had been contacted by Galloway's lawyers.
Labour Chairman Ian McCartney said party officials would look into the "extremely serious" allegations.
Party officials had already been considering disciplinary action against Galloway for calling Blair and US President George W. Bush "wolves" for attacking Iraq. Blair called those remarks "disgraceful".
The Scottish legislator has been attacked by sections of the press for his tireless opposition to the attack on Iraq and lampooned as the "MP for Baghdad Central". He was a long-time campaigner against UN sanctions on Iraq, and met Saddam.
Galloway said the documents found in the Iraqi Foreign Ministry might have been forged or planted as part of what he called a "carpet bombing" campaign against him.