>http://www.livejournal.com/community/swp_watch/22165.html
> >...Galloway insisted that when the Mariam Appeal had been
>investigated by the Charities Commission, who had accounted for "every
>penny in and every penny out" (Galloway's words when testifying to the
>subcommittee) of the Appeal.
>
>But that's not true. In fact, the report states...
Michael, I am not surprised (and nor should anyone here be surprised) that you choose to rely in this instance on a particularly infantile website run by a monomaniac with too much time on his hands. You might have actually consulted the Charities Commission's full findings, linked to in the article that I posted.
The Charities Commission did indeed say that it had not seen every book or record of the Mariam Appea, because the records were sent to Mr Zureikat when he became the Chairman of the Appeall. However, and this (unlike your posting) relates closely to Mr Palast's charges, what the Charities Commission did not say was that there was $1 million unaccounted for. Instead, the director of the commission said: "The commission's thorough inquiry found no evidence to suggest that the large amounts of money given to the Mariam Appeal were not properly used." So, to repeat: from $1 million allegedly misused, unaccounted for, spent on Galloway's wife, we come to zero funds allegedly misused or unaccounted for. And of course the payment to Mr Galloway's wife was as an executive of the Appeal which all executives received, and about which the Commission "accepts that none of the Executive Committee acted in bad faith and that the services provided were of value to the Appeal".
In other words, Greg Palast has cited a report that he claims justifies the suggestion that there is $1 million unaccounted for, and that Mr Galloway was 'excoriated' for this reason, and further that some of the unaccounted for money went to Galloway's wife in 'emergency payments'. The report does not in fact support the first assertion, hardly rises to the level of excoriation anywhere, and cites payments to Mr Galloway's wife as among those payments accounted for. And Palast claims, shamelessly, that he actually *read* the findings. All in all, a shocking low in the career of an 'investigative journalist'.
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