George Galloway facing fresh inquiry by charity watchdog

George Galloway was tonight facing a fresh inquiry into his Mariam Appeal after recent reports connecting it with the scandal-ridden UN Oil for Food programme.

The Charity Commission has confirmed that it has opened a new investigation into the fund, this time into the source of the £1m in cash that was spent by the Mariam Appeal.

Mr Galloway, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, has already been investigated once by the commission in 2003, after concerns were raised at the way money raised for the Mariam Appeal had been spent. That inquiry concluded that there was no evidence of the misuse of funds donated to the appeal, whose aim was to relieve suffering among Iraqi people during UN sanctions on their country.

But the Commission has confirmed today that it has opened a fresh inquiry into the appeal's sources of income. The move comes after inquiries by the US Senate and the UN into the fund, which reported that Mr Galloway's friend and associate Fawaz Zureikat had siphoned £252,000 from the UN's Oil for Food programme into the appeal.