George Galloway with his then wife Amineh Abu-Zayyad. It has emerged that she was paid £84,000 from a fund set up to provide cancer care for a little Iraqi girl

George Galloway's ex wife reportedly received £84,000 donated to a fund set up to pay for the treatment of a four-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukemia.

His appeal has been embroiled in fresh controversy just a day before the firebrand left-winger stands for election in Manchester Gorton tomorrow.

Some £1.5million was raised for the Mariam Appeal, which was set up to pay for the care of the cancer-stricken girl and campaigned to end sanctions in Iraq.

But secret documents seen by The Times show his wife at the time, Amineh Abu-Zayyad, was paid £84,000 as the appeal's medical and scientific officer.

This is substantially more than the £54,000 given to the Yorkhill NHS Trust in Glasgow for treating Mariam.

And it was almost as much as the £100,000 total estimated cost of her care.

The documents, released to the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, also revealed that she was handed the role without a formal tendering process or written contract of employment.

And Mr Galloway, who used to be a Labour MP before forming The Respect Party in the aftermath of the Iraq war, was reportedly paid cheques worth more than £3,000.

He insists these were for legitimate travel expenses.

However, the newspaper reports that Mr Galloway, 62, and Dr Abu-Zayyad, 49, were trustees of the fund - and legally a person in a position of trust within a charity is not entitled to benefit directly from it without proper authority.

Mr Galloway told the newspaper that the Mariam Appeal was set up as a political campaign after receiving legal advice, although later the Charity Commission ruled it should have been set up as a charity.

The documents reportedly show that Dr Abu-Zayyad received 20 monthly payments amounting to £42,000.

She said this was her salary while the rest covered expenses which would have been backed by receipts.

But the newspaper reported that the money she received as earnings was unauthorised because the appeal's constitution did not enable payments to executive committee members.

George Galloway is standing as an independent candidate in Manchester Gorton tomorrow. But he has been embroiled in fresh controversy over his cancer appeal fund

The Charity Commission did not demand repayment because Mr Galloway's wife provided service of value and had been unaware the salary was in breach of trust.

Mr Galloway's lawyers, Davenport Lyons, who also represented his then wife, said she was the 'natural choice' for the job because she spoke Arabic, knew the Middle East and was a cancer research specialist.

The commission said in its report that it 'accepts that none of the executive committee acted in bad faith'.

David Rich, the commission's head of investigations, said in an internal memo that the inquiries 'uncovered trustee benefits that may be explained, but not excused, by ignorance'.

But the watchdog's draft guidance to its media team stated that, if reporters asked how much Dr Abu-Zayyad was paid, 'we'll have to explain that we cannot disclose the information. Suggest they contact Mr Galloway for details.'

On top of her salary, she received more than a dozen cheques to cover her expenses.

Two cheques for £5,500 each stated on the reverse 'cash to be made payable' alongside her name.

David Rich, the commission's head of investigations, said in an internal memo that the inquiries 'uncovered trustee benefits that may be explained, but not excused, by ignorance'.

George Galloway has courted controversy during his career in politics. In 2006 he appeared on Celebrity big Brother, where he memorably pretended to be a cat for a task

Dr Abu-Zayyad told the commission the regular sums had been her salary.

She added that the 'others no doubt represent reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs in Jordan and Iraq for me, Mariam, her grandfather and her father' plus campaigning, medical and medicinal costs.

Mr Galloway told the commission the £3,192 paid to him related to his expenses as chairman.

Mr Galloway, then a Labour MP, launched the Mariam Appeal in 1998 in the wake of western military shelling against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

He claimed there had been a rise in children's leukaemia in the country because of depleted uranium used in Allied ammunition in the Gulf War in 1991.

He told The Times: 'The Mariam Appeal was a political campaign not a charity.

'The Charity Commission decreed it should be a charity and long ago accepted its accounts despite your heroic efforts to the contrary. It closed 14 years ago.

'Dr Abu-Zayyad did not receive any 'unauthorised benefits'. Neither did I. Nor did anyone else.'