BJP making an issue out of non-issue: Natwar's son
by Maya Singh
New
Delhi: External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's son, Jagat
Singh, on Saturday charged the opposition, especially the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with making the Volcker Inquiry
Committee's report on alleged kickbacks in the Iraq Oil for
Food deals an issue, when it was a non-issue. Jagat Singh
said: "I think the opposition today, especically the BJP,
is getting increasingly desperate to try and make this (Volcker
Report) an issue that is really not one, because they have
nothing to say for themselves. So, I think, this is a tremendous
waste of everyone's time." When he was asked whether he had
ever carried a letter to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
on behalf of Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, Jagat
rubbished the allegation by saying, " No, I don't think Mrs.
Gandhi would have sent a letter through me to anyone. I mean,
at that time (2001), I was only a General Secretary of the
Youth Congress. So, I think that kind of allegation is a little
bit ridiculous and far-fetched.
As
the political controversy is raging over whether his father
Natwar Singh and the Congress were indirect beneficiaries
of the Oil for Food scam, he said that as far as his friend
and business partner Andleeb Sehgal was concerned, it was
upto him to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. "See,
I am not in a position to ask Mr. Sehgal to do anything. You
know, he is an independent entity altogether, and I am sure
that he will come up with a credible and relevant defence
of his own position," Jagat said, adding "But, I am not in
a position to influence him." Commenting on the disclosures
of the report itself, Jagat said that it was in everyone's
interest to cooperate, as there was nothing to hide. "Well,
you see, the thing is, to shed light in this matter, I think
everybody should cooperate. I mean, when there is nothing
to hide and no wrondoing has taken place, then it is in everybody's
benefit, all concerned, that whoever is being associated with
this process, should speak up in their own defence. As far
the antecendents of the businessman, Mr. Meiji, was concerned,
Jagat Singh said they were questionable, and it was not true
that he or his father had ever met him to facilitate the siphoning
of funds from Saddam regime in exchange for importing oil.
"We have never had lunch or dinner with Mr.Meiji, and in all
deference to his age, I think Mr. Meiji's memory is failing
him, and to make an allegation that my father had met Saddam
Hussein, had received vouchers, given vouchers, that I have
travelled on many, many occasions to Iraq, I would like Mr.
Meiji to please state on which occasion I was in Iraq. I would
also like for him to state on what basis is he saying that
my father met Mr. Saddam Hussein and gave him vouchers , and
my father never met Mr. Saddam Hussein. I mean, this way,
you can get anyone off the street and get him to say whatever
you want," said Jagat Singh.
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.