(Host) A British judge this week awarded millions of dollars to Windham County Senate candidate Peter Galbraith in a dispute with a Norwegian oil company.
Galbraith is an international consultant and former U.S. diplomat. He was owed the money because he helped the company set up oil contracts in Iraqi Kurdistan.
As VPR’s Susan Keese reports, he’s now fighting – and denying – allegations of financial impropriety.
(Keese) Galbraith has been an outspoken advocate for Iraqi Kurds for decades. In the 1980s, he helped draw international attention to Saddam Hussein’s use of poison gas against the Kurdish minority.
In 2003, he helped the Kurds negotiate control over their resources, including oil, in the interim Iraqi constitution.
(Galbraith) "They then encouraged me to help develop the oil resources of Kurdistan. And I’m proud of my role in doing that."
(Keese) Galbraith worked with a Norwegian company to contract with the Kurds to do that exploratory work. In return, the company, DNO, promised Galbraith and his partners a percentage of the proceeds from any oil resulting from that work.
But a series of New York Times articles has questioned the propriety of that dual role. Critics have suggested that Galbraith’s undisclosed "stake" in Kurdish oil might even shed doubts on the integrity of Iraq’s constitution.
Galbraith dismisses those claims.
(Galbraith) "My work with the company was a separate, subsequent matter of which the Kurdistan government was very aware and very supportive. So there was no conflict at all. What I did was to help an oppressed people to develop their own resources and for the first time they’re actually benefiting from the oil that lies under their soil."
(Keese) Galbraith says he probably was mistaken in not always revealing his financial interests while advocating for Kurdish autonomy.
But he says the stories carried in The New York Times accusing him of ethical misdoings originated in Norway.
And he suggests that the Norwegian government has an axe to grind. Galbraith was a U.N. envoy to Afghanistan until November 2009.
He was fired after he accused the U.N. representative to Afghanistan of concealing corruption in the Afghan national elections. The U.N. official was Kai Eide, a Norwegian.
He says it isn’t an accident that the conflict of interest allegations were published within days after he made those accusations.
Galbraith says he doesn’t think the flap will have a big effect on his Senate race.
(Galbraith) "I think the people of Windham County know me well. They know the positions I’ve taken. They understand that this is a normal business relationship. I think people understand that if you go to court and you win, it is because what you did was legal."
(Keese) Galbraith says he’s looking into reinvesting the money from his suit against the oil company in renewable energy projects in both Kurdistan and Vermont.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.