11-11-2005, 12:55 AM
Pioneer.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Vitol links Cong to $16.8 m oil scam </b>
Yogesh Vajpeyi / Rana Ajit / New Delhi
<b>Another Letter of Credit worth $5.7 m links Natwar</b>------- More details linking the Congress party and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh with the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam surfaced even as the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the setting up of the Justice RS Pathak Inquiry Authority to go into the Volcker Committee revelations.
<b>A Rotterdam-based oil major Vitol had issued two letters of credit (LC) -one for the Congress party and another for Natwar Singh_ which were deposited with the UN approved bank Banque Nationale Paribas. </b>
<b>A close scrutiny of Table IV of the Volcker Committee report shows that Vitol issued an LC (N731924) for $ 16.8 million against Contract No. M/10/57 that tallies with the details mentioned against the Congress in Table III of the report. The LC was reportedly issued for 1.896 million barrels of oil that was sanctioned to the Congress as a non-contractual beneficiary.
Similarly, Vitol issued a LC (D726805) for $5.7 million against contract no. M/09/54 that tallies with details mentioned against Mr Singh in Table III. The LC was for 300,000 barrels of oil.</b>
In the face of these fresh pointers, the Opposition dubbed the UPA Government's resolution setting up the Inquiry Authority "to establish the truth or otherwise of unverified references" in the Volcker report as an attempt to cover up the Congress party's involvement in the scam.
The Government had not announced the terms of reference of the Inquiry Authority after the Cabinet meeting during the day fuelling Opposition's fears that and it was planning merely an executive inquiry.
<b>However, it changed tack and another meeting of the Cabinet was held late in the night after Justice Pathak met the Prime Minister and reportedly expressed his reservations</b>.
Briefing newspersons after the late night Cabinet confabulations, <b>Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that the Pathak Inquiry Authority would be vested with all the powers under the Commission of Inquiries Act and its' report would be tabled in Parliament.</b>
<b>To a question why an Authority was being set up instead of an Inquiry Commission, Mr Chidambaram said "there is no difference in terms of the objectives to be achieved. There is no difference in the effectiveness of the inquiry and there is no difference on the powers required to enquire into the matter."</b>
[fraud already started]
<b>Asked whether Natwar Singh, who was stripped off the External Affairs portfolio in the wake of Volcker findings, was present at the Cabinet meeting, Mr Chidambaram said the Union Minister was present but left when the issue of setting up of the Authority was taken up for discussion.</b>
[No harm to invite thief]Â
While awaiting notification of the terms of reference, the BJP-led Opposition hoped that the focus of the inquiry would not be Hamdan- centric, as indicated in the Cabinet resolution setting up the authority that talked only of "allegations of payment of kickbacks by certain Indian entities and individuals."
<b>BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said the use of terms like "unverified references" in the Cabinet resolution showed that the Government did not want to get to the truth and punish the guilty. </b>
"The issue is not who got the notice but who got the oil and who got the money. The Congress and the UPA Government are trying to divert the issue, " he alleged in Patna. He maintained that the only way to get to the truth would have been to entrust the inquiry to an agency
like the CBI which had coercive powers to procure evidence and interrogate witnesses within the country as well as other countries.
<b>"The present inquiry authority will have to depend on cooperation of agencies outside the country and has limited powers to procure evidence from abroad," he pointed out.</b>
Mr Volcker had already said that he would provide material within the legal constraints only to a judicial authority.
Though Mr Chidambaram sought to dismiss the differences and the Government has assured to invest the Pathak Inquiry Authority with "all the powers that Justice Pathak wants", few in the legal circles were prepared to buy the argument.
Mr Chidambaram refused to speak about the results of the four days of questioning of the partners of Hamdan Exports by the Enforcement Directorate.
But sources said that the ED had been able to extract statements from Hamdan's partner Andleep Sehgal that neither the Congress nor Natwar Singh had any financial dealings with it.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Vitol links Cong to $16.8 m oil scam </b>
Yogesh Vajpeyi / Rana Ajit / New Delhi
<b>Another Letter of Credit worth $5.7 m links Natwar</b>------- More details linking the Congress party and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh with the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam surfaced even as the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the setting up of the Justice RS Pathak Inquiry Authority to go into the Volcker Committee revelations.
<b>A Rotterdam-based oil major Vitol had issued two letters of credit (LC) -one for the Congress party and another for Natwar Singh_ which were deposited with the UN approved bank Banque Nationale Paribas. </b>
<b>A close scrutiny of Table IV of the Volcker Committee report shows that Vitol issued an LC (N731924) for $ 16.8 million against Contract No. M/10/57 that tallies with the details mentioned against the Congress in Table III of the report. The LC was reportedly issued for 1.896 million barrels of oil that was sanctioned to the Congress as a non-contractual beneficiary.
Similarly, Vitol issued a LC (D726805) for $5.7 million against contract no. M/09/54 that tallies with details mentioned against Mr Singh in Table III. The LC was for 300,000 barrels of oil.</b>
In the face of these fresh pointers, the Opposition dubbed the UPA Government's resolution setting up the Inquiry Authority "to establish the truth or otherwise of unverified references" in the Volcker report as an attempt to cover up the Congress party's involvement in the scam.
The Government had not announced the terms of reference of the Inquiry Authority after the Cabinet meeting during the day fuelling Opposition's fears that and it was planning merely an executive inquiry.
<b>However, it changed tack and another meeting of the Cabinet was held late in the night after Justice Pathak met the Prime Minister and reportedly expressed his reservations</b>.
Briefing newspersons after the late night Cabinet confabulations, <b>Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that the Pathak Inquiry Authority would be vested with all the powers under the Commission of Inquiries Act and its' report would be tabled in Parliament.</b>
<b>To a question why an Authority was being set up instead of an Inquiry Commission, Mr Chidambaram said "there is no difference in terms of the objectives to be achieved. There is no difference in the effectiveness of the inquiry and there is no difference on the powers required to enquire into the matter."</b>
[fraud already started]
<b>Asked whether Natwar Singh, who was stripped off the External Affairs portfolio in the wake of Volcker findings, was present at the Cabinet meeting, Mr Chidambaram said the Union Minister was present but left when the issue of setting up of the Authority was taken up for discussion.</b>
[No harm to invite thief]Â
While awaiting notification of the terms of reference, the BJP-led Opposition hoped that the focus of the inquiry would not be Hamdan- centric, as indicated in the Cabinet resolution setting up the authority that talked only of "allegations of payment of kickbacks by certain Indian entities and individuals."
<b>BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said the use of terms like "unverified references" in the Cabinet resolution showed that the Government did not want to get to the truth and punish the guilty. </b>
"The issue is not who got the notice but who got the oil and who got the money. The Congress and the UPA Government are trying to divert the issue, " he alleged in Patna. He maintained that the only way to get to the truth would have been to entrust the inquiry to an agency
like the CBI which had coercive powers to procure evidence and interrogate witnesses within the country as well as other countries.
<b>"The present inquiry authority will have to depend on cooperation of agencies outside the country and has limited powers to procure evidence from abroad," he pointed out.</b>
Mr Volcker had already said that he would provide material within the legal constraints only to a judicial authority.
Though Mr Chidambaram sought to dismiss the differences and the Government has assured to invest the Pathak Inquiry Authority with "all the powers that Justice Pathak wants", few in the legal circles were prepared to buy the argument.
Mr Chidambaram refused to speak about the results of the four days of questioning of the partners of Hamdan Exports by the Enforcement Directorate.
But sources said that the ED had been able to extract statements from Hamdan's partner Andleep Sehgal that neither the Congress nor Natwar Singh had any financial dealings with it.
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