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| India-Pakistan | |
| India ex-FM denies new oil for food claim | |
| 2005-12-03 | |
| Former Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh says new claims that he benefited from the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq are outrageous. Both houses of parliament adjourned in uproar on Friday after opposition members called on Mr Singh to resign. Although Mr Singh has stepped down as foreign minister, he remains a minister without portfolio in the cabinet. The new allegations were attributed to a fellow member of the Congress party, Aneil Matherani.Both men were part of a Congress delegation which visited Iraq in 2001. Questions over Natwar Singh first arose after it emerged that he and the Congress party were named in a UN-commissioned report into the oil-for-food scandal. Mr Matherani, who is also India's ambassador to Croatia, is quoted in the India Today magazine as saying that Mr Singh had allegedly facilitated the procurement of oil vouchers during the visit. The comments, taken from a telephone conversation, were also broadcast on the magazine's sister television station, Aaj Tak. But Natwar Singh has described the remarks attributed to Mr Matherani as "false and malicious" and said he will consult his lawyer to take further action. "My conscience is clear. I am ready to face any time-bound inquiry on the issue so that my name was cleared at the earliest," he told journalists in Delhi.
He went on to "vehemently deny ever saying that oil vouchers were allotted to the Congress party led by Sri Natwar Singh". "I have not said anything... that is not already known." India Today says it stands by its report and Aaj Tak has rebroadcast the telephone conversation throughout the day. Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the new revelations were a matter of concern and would be looked into by the investigating authorities. "No one who is guilty will go unpunished," he said in a statement in the lower house of parliament. But BJP opposition leader LK Advani demanded that Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi step down as chairperson of India's governing United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Earlier another senior BJP figure, Sushma Swaraj, demanded that Natwar Singh be arrested following the allegations. In the UN report, Natwar Singh and the Congress Party were named as non-contractual-beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme. The report, published recently and written by the former US Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, said more than 2,000 firms made illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's government. The Indian government has ordered a judicial investigation headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. More recently, Sonia Gandhi has promised to punish anyone found guilty of benefiting from the oil-for-food programme. | |
| Posted by:john |