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George Galloway’s former PA is suing him for £176,000 she claims she is owed in expenses after helping to buy his home and paying for his groceries and election campaigning out of her own pocket.

Ayesha Bajwa, 51, who was employed as the MP’s parliamentary aide on a £12,000-a-year salary from October 2006 to February 2012, claims he still owes her tens of thousands of pounds, in a case lodged at the High Court.

In the legal papers, Ms Bajwa says she and Mr Galloway had a financial arrangement whereby she would pay for his expenses from her own bank account and he would reimburse her.

The former PA alleges she paid £29,914 in solicitors’ fees for the purchase of the MP’s home in Streatham in December 2009, and made a number of payments totalling £32,391 for the printing of election materials and Mr Galloway’s campaigning between March 2007 and May 2010.

Other outgoings allegedly included payments to his Viva Palestina charity of £2,848 and expenditure on his day-to-day living, from groceries to utility bills, and the refurbishment of his home.

The writ claims Ms Bajwa, who volunteered with the MP for 18 months before being given a paid job, was asked to make payments to two companies, Miranda Media and Finjan Limited, which were set up by Mr Galloway to “benefit from lower rates of taxation”.

It also alleges that when she experienced financial difficulties, Mr Galloway “requested Ms Bajwa raise funds by way of a bank loan and/or overdraft facility”. She subsequently took out a £25,000 loan in January 2011.

The writ claims that Mr Galloway was “unjustly enriched” at her expense.When approached at her home in Eltham, Ms Bajwa said: “What happened is very difficult for me to talk about. I’m sorry that anyone has found out. I’m not willing to discuss it.”

A spokesman for Mr Galloway denied the claims and said the case was being “vigorously defended” by the Respect MP for Bradford West.

The case comes after Aisha Ali-Khan, a former parliamentary secretary of Mr Galloway, this week pleaded guilty to encouraging her anti-terror police officer husband to access confidential Scotland Yard emails.

Her husband, former detective inspector Mohammed Afiz Khan, pleaded guilty to two misconduct charges at Southwark crown court. They are due to be sentenced on July 11.