WASHINGTON - British lawmaker George Galloway, accused of receiving kickbacks from Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the UN oil-for-food scandal, has been called to testify before the US Congress on Tuesday, congressional sources said Thursday.
A spokesman for Norm Coleman, chairman of the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations, said the senator "would be pleased to have Mr. Galloway appear at the subcommittee's May 17 hearing entitled 'Oil for Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians and Terrorist Entities Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program."
"There will be a witness chair and microphone available for Mr. Galloway's use," added the spokesman, Tom Steward.
Galloway, who set up his own left-wing Respect Party after being expelled from the Labour Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war, won libel damages from a British newspaper last year after it made similar claims. And he strongly denied the Senate accusations on Thursday, branding them a "big lie."
"This is a very old allegation. It's the allegation that led the Daily Telegraph to spectacular defeat in the libel courts," Galloway told BBC radio.
"It doesn't matter how long you repeat a falsehood, it doesn't become other than a falsehood.
"The big lie technique of telling a big lie often enough in the hope that people will believe it is clearly at work here," he said.
"For what it's worth, I will repeat this for the 500th time: I have never seen a barrel of oil, I have never seen a voucher for a barrel of oil, I have never bought one, sold one, traded in one and neither has anyone on my behalf," he added.
The US committee said earlier Thursday it had "detailed evidence" that under the Saddam-era UN oil-for-food program, Iraq gave 20 million barrels of oil in allocations to Galloway.
Galloway called the investigation "a very peculiar kind of committee," saying its members had not contacted him, even when he requested a hearing.
"Contrary to his assertions, at no time did Mr. Galloway contact the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations by any means, including, but not limited to, telephone, fax, e-mail, letter, Morse code or carrier pigeon," Stewart retorted.
Asked why he had been named in the probe, Galloway, 50, claimed he was being targeted for opposing the Iraq war.
"This is George (W.) Bush's Republican Party committee seeking to smear those who stood against their policy on war with Iraq and who have been proved right," he said.
Charles Pasqua, a former French cabinet minister, was also accused of accepting kickbacks from Saddam's regime and has likewise vehemently denied the charges.
05/12/2005 15:02 GMT