Natwar Singh not to resign over Volcker report
New
Delhi: As the controversy over the Volcker inquiry into
the Iraqi Oil for Food scam remains at a high pitch with the
Congress and the BJP trading charges and counter-charges over
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and the Congress role
in it, Singh on Saturday dismissed the allegations of being
an indirect beneficiary and refused to resign. Singh maintained
that the allegations that he and the Congress party were indirect
beneficiaries in the UN "Oil for Food" contracts, was both
outrageous and completely false. He also denied having bought
any oil from Saddam Hussein. "I have never seen a barrel of
oil in my life, I have better things to do," Singh said. "What
was wrong if Jagat (his son) went Iraq? There is no law against
it," Singh said, adding that they had no business relationship
with Andaleeb Sehgal, and said that Sehgal was only a friend
of Jagat. Responding to the BJP's demand to resign as the
country's foreign minister, Singh said that the BJP was not
in a position to decide who the foreign minister of India
should be, and added that he has the full support of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Natwar also said that there was no need of announcing a legal
notice to UN. "I am fully capable of defending myself, I am
a fighter and will fight back," he said. He also asserted
that Paul Volcker, the author of the controversial UN report
on Iraq's Oil-for-Food programme, should have the courtesy
of sending him and the Congress party a letter. Natwar also
confirmed that India's Ambassador to the UN, Nirupam Sen,
has been asked to seek clarifications from UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan on the report.
Singh's
clarification came a day after Volcker said that he did not
know that Singh was India's External Affairs Minister. "I
came to know yesterday that Natwar Singh is the Foreign Minister,"
Volcker said at a function on the issue of reforms. Dismissing
Singh's claim that he was not asked for his comments, Volcker
had also said that those mentioned in the report were notified
and given a chance to clarify their role. The BJP has asked
President APJ Abdul Kalam to intervene and seek Natwar Singh's
resignation from the Union Cabinet. BJP spokesperson Sushma
Swaraj said that senior BJP leaders had a meeting with party
President LK Advani on Friday evening, and it had been decided
that they would approach the President on Monday to intervene
in the matter.
Meanwhile, the Left parties, which provide crucial outside
support to the Congress-led UPA coalition have demanded a
probe into the Volcker Report allegations to clear the air.
"We have basically asked the Government to enquire into the
whole matter, so that people come to know what is true and
what is false and today we had a meeting with Natwar Singh.
We listened to his version and he told us that that what has
been said in the report is baseless and false. He even told
us that the main report dose not contain any name, only in
some annexure some names appear," D Raja, national secretary
of the Communist Party of India, told reporters. The Communist
Party of India (Marxist) has also called for a probe on the
issue. "We said that the government should investigate the
matter. There are numerous reports in this issue, throughout
the world. There is no substantiation. So we have asked them
to probe the matter," said Brinda Karat, member, Politburo,
Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Samajwadi Party also
said Natwar Singh had to make his stand clear on the issue.
"There is confusion regarding the position of the External
Affairs Minister. We are trying for the membership of the
Security Council of the United Nations. The UN has set up
a high- level enquiry committee, which found the involvement
of some companies of Switzerland, Italy and India, and after
that Singh gave a statement that he is being implicated for
supporting Saddam Hussein's regime," said Amar Singh, General
Secretary, Samajwadi Party. The Volcker Committee report has
said that politicians in several countries were given oil
vouchers that could be sold for a commission to help Saddam
Hussein in his quest to get UN sanctions lifted and the ruling
Congress party and External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh
received favours from him.
The Congress had, reacting to the issue, on Thursday said
that it was deeply concerned by "unverified references" made
in the report by the UN established Independent Inquiry Committee,
led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. It
said that the party would issue a legal notice to the United
Nations and the Volcker Committee and ask for evidence to
prove the charges. The oil-for-food programme, which began
in 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed to ease the impact on
Iraqis from the UN sanctions imposed when Baghdad's troops
invaded Kuwait in 1990. Under the scheme, Iraq was allowed
to sell oil to buy food, medicine and many other goods. The
UN report also said that some 2,200 companies made illicit
payments totalling 1.8 billion dollars to Saddam's government
under the programme. Among other politicians, named in the
Volcker report, were British lawmaker George Galloway, former
French UN Ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee, former French Interior
Minister Charles Pasqua and Russian ultra-nationalist leader
Vladimir Zhirinovsky.