08-04-2006, 01:30 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Pathak covers up for party, nails Natwar </b>
Pioneer.com
Pramod Kumar Singh | New Delhi
How can they exonerate Cong, asks Natwar ---- Still reeling after the day's isolation in Rajya Sabha, the Pathak Commission probing the UN oil-for-food scam provided the beleaguered Congress some relief in the evening by exonerating the party of any wrong doing and nailing one of the prime movers behind the opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Justice RS Pathak Inquiry Authority probing the UN Oil-for-Food programme in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime found former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh guilty of misusing his powers as a foreign minister but failed to find any evidence of a money trail linking him or his son Jagat Singh.
<b>However, Jagat's relatives Andaleeb Sehgal and Aditya Khanna were indicted for having received money.</b>
<b>The knives are out in Congress for Natwar Singh as he was seen as being active in the opposition to the nuclear deal. The party has indicated that action would follow against the former foreign minister after studying the findings, reports NDTV.</b>
"It is a very high-powered commission chaired by a former Chief Justice of India which went into the facts and records and said what it has to say," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. As far as individuals are concerned, he remarked, "let us wait to study the report and then decide on the individual course of action."
Natwar reacted saying that the commission report vindicated his stand that he did not take any money, but he asked,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> "How can they cast aspersions on me while exonerating the Congress party." </span>Â <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Justice Pathak submitted his report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday in which he also exonerated the Congress Party for having received any slush funds from the scam.
The report found that Natwar and his son had misused their position in helping Sehgal and Khanna bag three oil contracts from the UN sanctioned Saddam regime. Sehgal and Khanna, in turn, passed the contracts on to Swiss oil company Masefield AG that drew the oil and paid them a commission, the report says.
On a cut of five cents a barrel, Sehgal and Khanna received a total commission of $ 1,46,000, which they divided between themselves in a ratio of 4:1, according to the report.
The Paul Volcker report had named Natwar Singh and the Congress as non-contractual beneficiary in the oil-for-food scam. Informed sources told The Pioneer that during its intense investigation, the one-man Justice Pathak authority found Natwar Singh guilty of misusing his position.
The senior Congress leader has been accused of influencing the Saddam Hussein regime during his visits to Iraq in his capacity as leader of the Congress delegation. In the same breath, the Authority also singled out Jagat Singh for misusing his position.
The only saving grace for the father-son duo was that Justice Pathak failed to find any monetary transactions to Natwar and Jagat, which could have accrued through the shady deals.
<b>It was found during investigations that Natwar Singh wrote three official letters to the Iraqi Oil Minister to introduce Andaleeb Sehgal. The Justice Pathak panel met Paul Volcker in New York to look into the alleged payoffs to Natwar Singh and the Congress.</b>
The Volcker controversy broke out on October 30, 2005 when the report by former United Nations diplomat Paul Volcker hit headlines listing over 600 names as non-contractual beneficiaries of Iraqi oil sales in 2001. It also included Natwar Singh, India's then Foreign Minister and the Congress Party as non-contractual beneficiaries.
When the oil-for-food scam came to light in November last year, Natwar Singh, had to first quit as Foreign Minister and then from the Union Cabinet within a month on December 6.
Natwar Singh, who was summoned by the Authority, as were Sehgal and others, had always maintained that he had not done anything wrong in the whole affair and the inquiry would prove his innocence.
He had also accused the Enforcement Directorate of indulging in a witch-hunt and harassing his son and others. He had hinted at some higher-ups in the Congress party of going after him.
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Pioneer.com
Pramod Kumar Singh | New Delhi
How can they exonerate Cong, asks Natwar ---- Still reeling after the day's isolation in Rajya Sabha, the Pathak Commission probing the UN oil-for-food scam provided the beleaguered Congress some relief in the evening by exonerating the party of any wrong doing and nailing one of the prime movers behind the opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Justice RS Pathak Inquiry Authority probing the UN Oil-for-Food programme in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime found former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh guilty of misusing his powers as a foreign minister but failed to find any evidence of a money trail linking him or his son Jagat Singh.
<b>However, Jagat's relatives Andaleeb Sehgal and Aditya Khanna were indicted for having received money.</b>
<b>The knives are out in Congress for Natwar Singh as he was seen as being active in the opposition to the nuclear deal. The party has indicated that action would follow against the former foreign minister after studying the findings, reports NDTV.</b>
"It is a very high-powered commission chaired by a former Chief Justice of India which went into the facts and records and said what it has to say," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. As far as individuals are concerned, he remarked, "let us wait to study the report and then decide on the individual course of action."
Natwar reacted saying that the commission report vindicated his stand that he did not take any money, but he asked,<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'> "How can they cast aspersions on me while exonerating the Congress party." </span>Â <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Justice Pathak submitted his report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday in which he also exonerated the Congress Party for having received any slush funds from the scam.
The report found that Natwar and his son had misused their position in helping Sehgal and Khanna bag three oil contracts from the UN sanctioned Saddam regime. Sehgal and Khanna, in turn, passed the contracts on to Swiss oil company Masefield AG that drew the oil and paid them a commission, the report says.
On a cut of five cents a barrel, Sehgal and Khanna received a total commission of $ 1,46,000, which they divided between themselves in a ratio of 4:1, according to the report.
The Paul Volcker report had named Natwar Singh and the Congress as non-contractual beneficiary in the oil-for-food scam. Informed sources told The Pioneer that during its intense investigation, the one-man Justice Pathak authority found Natwar Singh guilty of misusing his position.
The senior Congress leader has been accused of influencing the Saddam Hussein regime during his visits to Iraq in his capacity as leader of the Congress delegation. In the same breath, the Authority also singled out Jagat Singh for misusing his position.
The only saving grace for the father-son duo was that Justice Pathak failed to find any monetary transactions to Natwar and Jagat, which could have accrued through the shady deals.
<b>It was found during investigations that Natwar Singh wrote three official letters to the Iraqi Oil Minister to introduce Andaleeb Sehgal. The Justice Pathak panel met Paul Volcker in New York to look into the alleged payoffs to Natwar Singh and the Congress.</b>
The Volcker controversy broke out on October 30, 2005 when the report by former United Nations diplomat Paul Volcker hit headlines listing over 600 names as non-contractual beneficiaries of Iraqi oil sales in 2001. It also included Natwar Singh, India's then Foreign Minister and the Congress Party as non-contractual beneficiaries.
When the oil-for-food scam came to light in November last year, Natwar Singh, had to first quit as Foreign Minister and then from the Union Cabinet within a month on December 6.
Natwar Singh, who was summoned by the Authority, as were Sehgal and others, had always maintained that he had not done anything wrong in the whole affair and the inquiry would prove his innocence.
He had also accused the Enforcement Directorate of indulging in a witch-hunt and harassing his son and others. He had hinted at some higher-ups in the Congress party of going after him.
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