Opposition
guns for Natwar Singh, Govt to probe
New
Delhi: The Opposition BJP on Thursday stepped up its offensive
against External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and demanded
his dismissal over a UN investigation report, which says he
received favours from Saddam Hussein to help get UN sanctions
lifted. The BJP termed the allegations as "most serious" and
demanded criminal proceeding against those involved. "The
Prime Minister should immediately dismiss External Affairs
Minister Natwar Singh and after the dismissal...it should
begin criminal proceedings against him and all those involved
in this case," said BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh-led Congress party and Singh had denied
any links to the Volcker report, which revealed last month
that some 2,200 companies made illicit payments totalling
1.8 billion dollars to Hussein's government under the UN "oil-for
food" programme.
It
also named politicians in Russia, France, Britain, Italy and
elsewhere who were given oil vouchers that could be sold for
a commission to help Saddam in his quest to get UN sanctions
lifted. Congress and Singh were among those in this list but
the government has issued a strong denial, and said that it
was determined to reach the truth of the matter. "The government
in deeply concerned about the unverified references made in
the Volcker Committee report to the Congress party and the
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh. The Volcker Committee
report, as it stands today, is insufficient to arrive at any
adverse or definitive conclusion. Therefore the government
is determined to establish the truth or otherwise of these
references. The matter is under the serious consideration
of the government and a decision will be announced shortly,"
said Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office.
Meanwhile
PDP leader Bhim Singh, who was also named in the report pleaded
innocence and denied making an explosive comment to a national
daily that he had seen documents which proved Natwar Singh
had received the kickbacks offer. Bhim Singh's interview made
to the "Times of India" had kicked up a storm, making matters
worse for Natwar Singh. "My conscious did not accept, so I
said, no, thank you...the matter was ended, but who else accepted
it, and who else offered the same deal I don't know," said
Bhim Singh. The oil-for-food programme, which began in 1996
and ended in 2003, was designed to ease the impact on ordinary
Iraqis of UN sanctions, imposed when Baghdad's troops invaded
Kuwait in 1990. Under the scheme, Iraq was allowed to sell
oil in order to buy food, medicine and many other goods. Among
the politicians named by the Volcker report were British lawmaker
George Galloway, former French UN Ambassador Jean- Bernard
Merimee, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and
Russian ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. New
Delhi had good relations with Baghdad under Saddam and thousands
of Indian migrants worked in that country while dozens of
Indian firms did business with Iraq. Congress, India's oldest
political party, which has ruled the country for most of its
58 years since independence, was out of power between 1996
and 2003, the duration of the oil-for-food programme.