British MP George Galloway told the US Congress today he rejected charges he profited from the Iraq oil-for-food program and complained he was being treated unfairly by a Senate committee.
British MP, George Galloway
"I am not now, nor have I ever been, an oil trader, and neither has anyone on my behalf," he told the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as he began refuting the committee's accusations.
"I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither has anybody on my behalf," Mr Galloway said.
Addressing the Republican chairman of the committee, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, he added: "Now I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."
Mr Galloway was a witness before the committee that is examining how ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used oil to reward politicians, particularly from Russia, France and Britain, under the United Nations oil-for-food programme.
Mr Galloway has dismissed allegations by the committee that he benefited from the program. The committee last week released documents it said showed Saddam gave Mr Galloway the rights to export 20 million barrels of oil under the defunct humanitarian programme.