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PM expresses faith in his Cabinet colleague

     New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today dismissed the "adverse conclusion" about the alleged involvement of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh in the UN Oil for Food Programme in Iraq. An independent Inquiry Committee set up by the world body had indicted Singh and the Congress Party as "non- contractual beneficiaries" of the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food programme. Dr. Manmohan Singh said the facts of the report are "insufficient to arrive at any adverse conclusion" against Natwar Singh. In a press release by the PMO said the External Affairs Minister met Prime Minister on his return from Moscow and "categorically denied" any involvement in the alleged illicit payments on oil transactions under the Oil for Food programme as stated by the Volcker Committee. Natwar Singh, who was in Moscow to attend the India Russia Inter Governmental Commission, said in a statement issued at Frankfurt enroute Delhi said: "My record in public life for the past 50 years and more has been an open book. My personal integrity has never been questioned."