11-06-2005, 03:30 AM
I was debating where to post, Traitor thread or unconsitutional power or...Well here it is <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Pioneer.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>NRI tycoon names Sonia </b>
Yogesh Vajpeyi/ New Delhi
Party on the defensive--- As External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh fought a rearguard battle to retain his place in the UPA Government, the political storm generated by Iraq's oil scam on Saturday hit Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
<b>An Iraq-based Indian businessman has now claimed that Mr Singh got the controversial oil contract from the then Iraq President Saddam Hussein after he presented him a letter of solidarity from Ms Gandhi.</b>
This is the first time that Ms Gandhi's name has figured in the scam after the UN-sponsored Volcker Committee report last week listed Mr Singh and the Congress Party as "non-contractual beneficiaries" of the Iraq food-for-oil programme.
The NRI businessman Haridarshan Singh Majie, whose company has been based in Iraq for 30 years, has given several interviews to the media in the past few days corroborating the contents of the Volcker report and the involvement of Mr Singh.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>A TV channel quoted him on Saturday as saying that Saddam gave Mr Singh the oil contract after the latter met him in 2001 and presented him the letter from Ms Sonia Gandhi.</span>
Mr Majie claimed that Saddam forwarded Ms Gandhi's letter to the Iraq oil ministry and it was part of record on the basis of which the Volcker Committee prepared its report listing Mr Singh and the Congress as beneficiaries.
Stung by the Majie's revelation, the Congress went into denial mode. <b>"The reports that Ms Sonia Gandhi is involved in the scandal are absolutely false and baseless," </b>Congress general secretary Ambika Soni told mediapersons.
However, she did not deny that Ms Gandhi had written the letter in question. "It is quite natural for the Congress president to give a letter to the Head of a Government as Congress maintains ties with many countries," Ms Soni explained.
The opposition NDA leaders found the Congress' explanation inadequate. Reiterating the demand for Natwar Singh's ouster, NDA Convener and Janata Dal (U) leader George Fernandes made it clear that the Congress and its president must explain their position to the people of India.
<b>"It is now proved that Natwar Singh and the Congress have amassed hundreds of crores of rupees. In the wake of serious allegations against her party, Ms Gandhi should make her position clear,"</b> Mr Fernandes said.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ridiculed the UPA Government's defence of Mr Singh and the Congress threat to serve a notice to the UN on the issue. "Yeh to ulta chor kotwal ko daante waali baat hai ( It's a case of a thief accusing the policeman," he said. <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Mr Mejie said that he himself had met Mr Singh along with a delegation that included the Minister's son Jagat Singh in Baghdad</b>, and the Minister, then in the Opposition, was the only member to have got an audience with Saddam.
<b>The NRI businessman who had hosted a dinner for Mr Singh and his delegation in 2001, claimed that the then Iraqi Oil Minister Aamar Rashid later told him that the oil contract had been awarded to Mr Natwar Singh</b>.
In his media interviews Mr Majie pointed out that while <b>all the ministries in Iraq were plundered and their records destroyed, the US forces took care to seal the oil ministry right at the beginning</b>.
"The contracts and other documents are very much in tact and the Volcker report is based on these records. Its chilidish to say that Mr. Volcker was settling political scores on instructions of the US," he said.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Pioneer.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>NRI tycoon names Sonia </b>
Yogesh Vajpeyi/ New Delhi
Party on the defensive--- As External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh fought a rearguard battle to retain his place in the UPA Government, the political storm generated by Iraq's oil scam on Saturday hit Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
<b>An Iraq-based Indian businessman has now claimed that Mr Singh got the controversial oil contract from the then Iraq President Saddam Hussein after he presented him a letter of solidarity from Ms Gandhi.</b>
This is the first time that Ms Gandhi's name has figured in the scam after the UN-sponsored Volcker Committee report last week listed Mr Singh and the Congress Party as "non-contractual beneficiaries" of the Iraq food-for-oil programme.
The NRI businessman Haridarshan Singh Majie, whose company has been based in Iraq for 30 years, has given several interviews to the media in the past few days corroborating the contents of the Volcker report and the involvement of Mr Singh.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>A TV channel quoted him on Saturday as saying that Saddam gave Mr Singh the oil contract after the latter met him in 2001 and presented him the letter from Ms Sonia Gandhi.</span>
Mr Majie claimed that Saddam forwarded Ms Gandhi's letter to the Iraq oil ministry and it was part of record on the basis of which the Volcker Committee prepared its report listing Mr Singh and the Congress as beneficiaries.
Stung by the Majie's revelation, the Congress went into denial mode. <b>"The reports that Ms Sonia Gandhi is involved in the scandal are absolutely false and baseless," </b>Congress general secretary Ambika Soni told mediapersons.
However, she did not deny that Ms Gandhi had written the letter in question. "It is quite natural for the Congress president to give a letter to the Head of a Government as Congress maintains ties with many countries," Ms Soni explained.
The opposition NDA leaders found the Congress' explanation inadequate. Reiterating the demand for Natwar Singh's ouster, NDA Convener and Janata Dal (U) leader George Fernandes made it clear that the Congress and its president must explain their position to the people of India.
<b>"It is now proved that Natwar Singh and the Congress have amassed hundreds of crores of rupees. In the wake of serious allegations against her party, Ms Gandhi should make her position clear,"</b> Mr Fernandes said.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ridiculed the UPA Government's defence of Mr Singh and the Congress threat to serve a notice to the UN on the issue. "Yeh to ulta chor kotwal ko daante waali baat hai ( It's a case of a thief accusing the policeman," he said. <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Mr Mejie said that he himself had met Mr Singh along with a delegation that included the Minister's son Jagat Singh in Baghdad</b>, and the Minister, then in the Opposition, was the only member to have got an audience with Saddam.
<b>The NRI businessman who had hosted a dinner for Mr Singh and his delegation in 2001, claimed that the then Iraqi Oil Minister Aamar Rashid later told him that the oil contract had been awarded to Mr Natwar Singh</b>.
In his media interviews Mr Majie pointed out that while <b>all the ministries in Iraq were plundered and their records destroyed, the US forces took care to seal the oil ministry right at the beginning</b>.
"The contracts and other documents are very much in tact and the Volcker report is based on these records. Its chilidish to say that Mr. Volcker was settling political scores on instructions of the US," he said.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->