Labour MP George Galloway is set to collect at least £100,000 in costs and damages from the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor, according to The Herald.
The paper understands that the US newspaper admits falsely printing that the Glasgow Kelvin MP was in the pay of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. A formal apology in the High Court in London is due within weeks.
The Monitor, which alleged Galloway had received millions of pounds from Hussein, has already apologised and admitted the documents, on which the report was based, had been proved to be fake.
The Daily Telegraph also alleged that he was in the pay of the former Iraqi dictator, and in June Galloway issued libel proceedings against the paper after its report which claimed he secretly received at least £375,000 a year from Saddam’s regime.
It is thought that the Telegraph will argue that, given the gravity of claims allegedly made in documents that were retrieved in Iraq, it was in the public interest to publish their contents.
The Telegraph says that its documents were obtained directly by a staff reporter from the Iraqi foreign ministry.
By Hamish Mackay
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