The Christian Science Monitor, which accused Mr Galloway of accepting
payments totalling $10m in return for promoting Saddam's interests in the
west, has admitted that the documents which were the basis for its story
appear to be forgeries.

An "extensive investigation" by the Monitor revealed that the six papers,
dated between 1992 and 1993, were in fact written within the last few
months, according to chemical analysis of the ink.

"At the time we published these documents, we felt they were newsworthy
and appeared credible, although we did explicitly state in our article
that we could not guarantee their authenticity," said Paul Van Slambrouck,
the editor of the Monitor.

"It is important to set the record straight: we are convinced the
documents are bogus. We apologize to Mr Galloway and to our readers," he
added.

In an interview with the Press Association, Mr Galloway said today he did
not accept the newspaper's apology.

"I said from the beginning that these allegations were based on malice,
fabrication and forgery and that they would soon fall apart under
scrutiny. That is now beginning to happen," he said.

"This newspaper published on its front page in every country in the world
that I had taken $10m from Saddam Hussein. That was a grave and serious
libel.

"Of course the documents were a forgery and a newspaper of that importance
ought to have made the effort, both morally and legally, to establish the
authenticity of those documents before they published them."

Mr Galloway, who was suspended from the Labour party last month pending an
internal investigation into whether he brought the party into disrepute by
urging British troops not to fight in an illegal war against Iraq, has
always denied allegations that he took money from Saddam's regime.

The MP is also facing inquiries into his pro-Iraq fund, the Mariam appeal,
from the charity commission and the commission for parliamentary
standards.

Mr Galloway has threatened to sue the Monitor for libel, alongside the
Daily Telegraph, which also alleged he took money from the former Iraqi
ruler.