11-15-2005, 04:48 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Jagat got help from Indian trader</b>- By Seema Mustafa
New Delhi, Nov. 13: Who was Jagat Singh and Andaleeb Sehgal's first contact in Iraq who led them to Iraqi officials and the high society operating behind closed doors in that sanction-hit country? A young Indian businessman, Jamil Mohammad, based in Iraq and very close to Congress party circles, was amongst the first to get in touch with the two visitors, who were accompanying a Congress goodwill mission to Iraq under the then President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Jamil, a very pleasant and engaging young man, was a regular fixture in Iraq in those days, claiming to do business that he never really specified. Hospitable to the last, he dined and wined influential Indian visitors, helped them into the corridors of power as he claimed to know Mr Saddam Hussein's son Udai. He was clearly rich and well-connected, and back in Delhi had good links with operatives of the Youth Congress. So, when Mr Jagat Singh and Mr Andaleeb Sehgal accompanied minister of external affairs K. Natwar Singh to Iraq in January 2001, they were taken "care of" by Jamil who helped them develop the contacts required to do business in that country.
The story that appears to have reached a conclusion in the Volcker Committee report really began <b>in January 2001 when Mr Natwar Singh, accompanied by protégée and fellow member of the AICC foreign relations cell Aneil Mathrani, and former ministers P. Shiv Shankar and A.R. Antulay, decided to visit Iraq on a goodwill mission from the Congress party. Mr Jagat Singh, son of Mr Natwar Singh, travelled with the delegation</b>. Mr Sehgal joined a day later. The young delegates disappeared from view, spending their time with Jamil and his friends in getting to know the influential Iraqis and exploring the areas for lucrative business. They were dinners, music at night and hard business during the day.
The official delegation armed with the letter met Mr Saddam Hussein's second-in-command Tariq Aziz. Mr Antulay said that this was the highest they went. Another Indian businessman operating in Iraq at the time, who had hosted a dinner for the delegation in Baghdad, Mr H.S. Meijie, said he had learnt from the Iraqi oil minister at the time that Mr Natwar Singh had met Iraq President Saddam Hussein. And that he was the only person from the delegation to have got the appointment. Subsequently, Mr Meijie said that the oil minister Ammr Rashid had told him that an oil allocation had been cleared for Mr Natwar Singh.
Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has claimed since that the letter from Mrs Sonia Gandhi was used for the appointment and the subsequent clearance of the oil contract, and that it was part of the Iraqi petroleum ministry records. While this cannot be verified, it is true according to those who knew the workings of the Iraqi government then, that a letter from the Congress president of support would have opened doors for Congress leaders or relatives looking for business with Iraq at the time, simply because of the close relations and high regard with which Mr Saddam Hussein held the party and its earlier leadership.
The delegation returned to India as did the others accompanying it. But there is evidence of return visits by at least three individuals including Mr Aneil Mathrani, Mr Jagat Singh and Mr Andaleeb Sehgal.
In a careful piecing together of the events of the time, this newspaper came across Indians in Iraq, who did not want to be quoted for obvious reasons, who had personally met Mr Mathrani in Amman, Jordan, on his way to Iraq. He along with Mr Sehgal and Mr Jagat Singh renewed the contacts that they had made during the initial visit, and used the "friends" they had made to tie up business transactions. Oil, if the Volcker Committee report findings are found to be correct, was clearly the main area of interest.
Sources witness to the visits pointed out that "gifts were showered" on Iraqis by these Indian visitors who came at different points in time, and not necessarily together. Most Indian businessmen operating out of Iraq played host to visiting delegations, making it a point to be regulars at the Indian embassy and keeping close contact with the Iraqi leaders.
Mr Jamil was amongst those with an "in" into Iraqi high society as well as the top echelons of the leadership in Baghdad. He had little time for the Indian mission as he knew the local ropes and provided the heady mix between hard business during the day and high living at night. Mr Meijie was the sober businessman, officially entrusted with hosting a dinner for visitors such as Mr Natwar Singh, and doing so to develop contacts that he could not always encash.
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New Delhi, Nov. 13: Who was Jagat Singh and Andaleeb Sehgal's first contact in Iraq who led them to Iraqi officials and the high society operating behind closed doors in that sanction-hit country? A young Indian businessman, Jamil Mohammad, based in Iraq and very close to Congress party circles, was amongst the first to get in touch with the two visitors, who were accompanying a Congress goodwill mission to Iraq under the then President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Jamil, a very pleasant and engaging young man, was a regular fixture in Iraq in those days, claiming to do business that he never really specified. Hospitable to the last, he dined and wined influential Indian visitors, helped them into the corridors of power as he claimed to know Mr Saddam Hussein's son Udai. He was clearly rich and well-connected, and back in Delhi had good links with operatives of the Youth Congress. So, when Mr Jagat Singh and Mr Andaleeb Sehgal accompanied minister of external affairs K. Natwar Singh to Iraq in January 2001, they were taken "care of" by Jamil who helped them develop the contacts required to do business in that country.
The story that appears to have reached a conclusion in the Volcker Committee report really began <b>in January 2001 when Mr Natwar Singh, accompanied by protégée and fellow member of the AICC foreign relations cell Aneil Mathrani, and former ministers P. Shiv Shankar and A.R. Antulay, decided to visit Iraq on a goodwill mission from the Congress party. Mr Jagat Singh, son of Mr Natwar Singh, travelled with the delegation</b>. Mr Sehgal joined a day later. The young delegates disappeared from view, spending their time with Jamil and his friends in getting to know the influential Iraqis and exploring the areas for lucrative business. They were dinners, music at night and hard business during the day.
The official delegation armed with the letter met Mr Saddam Hussein's second-in-command Tariq Aziz. Mr Antulay said that this was the highest they went. Another Indian businessman operating in Iraq at the time, who had hosted a dinner for the delegation in Baghdad, Mr H.S. Meijie, said he had learnt from the Iraqi oil minister at the time that Mr Natwar Singh had met Iraq President Saddam Hussein. And that he was the only person from the delegation to have got the appointment. Subsequently, Mr Meijie said that the oil minister Ammr Rashid had told him that an oil allocation had been cleared for Mr Natwar Singh.
Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has claimed since that the letter from Mrs Sonia Gandhi was used for the appointment and the subsequent clearance of the oil contract, and that it was part of the Iraqi petroleum ministry records. While this cannot be verified, it is true according to those who knew the workings of the Iraqi government then, that a letter from the Congress president of support would have opened doors for Congress leaders or relatives looking for business with Iraq at the time, simply because of the close relations and high regard with which Mr Saddam Hussein held the party and its earlier leadership.
The delegation returned to India as did the others accompanying it. But there is evidence of return visits by at least three individuals including Mr Aneil Mathrani, Mr Jagat Singh and Mr Andaleeb Sehgal.
In a careful piecing together of the events of the time, this newspaper came across Indians in Iraq, who did not want to be quoted for obvious reasons, who had personally met Mr Mathrani in Amman, Jordan, on his way to Iraq. He along with Mr Sehgal and Mr Jagat Singh renewed the contacts that they had made during the initial visit, and used the "friends" they had made to tie up business transactions. Oil, if the Volcker Committee report findings are found to be correct, was clearly the main area of interest.
Sources witness to the visits pointed out that "gifts were showered" on Iraqis by these Indian visitors who came at different points in time, and not necessarily together. Most Indian businessmen operating out of Iraq played host to visiting delegations, making it a point to be regulars at the Indian embassy and keeping close contact with the Iraqi leaders.
Mr Jamil was amongst those with an "in" into Iraqi high society as well as the top echelons of the leadership in Baghdad. He had little time for the Indian mission as he knew the local ropes and provided the heady mix between hard business during the day and high living at night. Mr Meijie was the sober businessman, officially entrusted with hosting a dinner for visitors such as Mr Natwar Singh, and doing so to develop contacts that he could not always encash.
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