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Author: Yogesh Vajpeyi
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 14, 2006
Fresh evidence provides missing links: Jaitley ---- With the appearance of fresh evidence, the noose appears to be tightening around former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and the Congress Party. The Volcker Committee had listed both as "non-contractual beneficiaries" of the Iraq oil-for-food scam.
Opposition BJP on Thursday asserted that the discovery of Mr Natwar Singh's letters to Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, introducing his relative and Hamdaan Exports director Andaleeb Sehgal, and a written contract between Hamdaan and Swiss trading firm Masefield AG provided the missing links that clearly established that these beneficiaries had received kickbacks as part of an elaborate conspiracy.
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley demanded that the CBI should immediately register criminal cases against Natwar Singh and the Congress Party under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
He also wanted the Government to make public Mr Natwar Singh's letters and other incriminating documents seized by the Enforcement Directorate that is currently investigating the cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
"ED investigations under FEMA can only lead to penalty while the offences under the anti-corruption law and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act are punishable with imprisonment. Registration of cases by the CBI will also enable it to send a letter of request to the Swiss authorities to unearth the money trail and discover the eventual beneficiaries," Mr Jaitley contended.
The BJP leader argued that the trail in the Iraq oil-for-food scam had hotted up with the disclosure of Mr Singh's letters to the then Iraqi deputy premier in 2001.
"According to a TV channel report, London based NRI Aditya Khanna - a business partner of Andaleeb Sehgal - had given a written confession to the Enforcement Directorate about how the deal unfolded. The channel also claims to possess a written contract between Sehgal and Masefield AG, falsifying their denials about having done any business together," he pointed out.
According to the channel, the contract document has been signed by Nick Swan of Masefield AG and addressed to 'Andaleeb of Hamdaan'. It lists 'Payment for an allocation of crude oil under UN oil-for-food programme' as its subject clearly states that the contract is for two million barrels of Basrah Light due for loading in July or August 2001.
The letter says Masefield was taking full legal assignment of the allocation in return of payment for a fee and lays down the ground rules for how the proceeds will be shared.
Since the oil was to be taken to the Far East, the two parties agreed that Sehgal would receive 30 cents per barrel, of which 25 cents would be paid to Saddam's kickback accounts and five cents would be the profit, or Sehgal's share, the document says.
The surfacing of the contract document has provided clinching evidence in support of the Volcker report that accused Sehgal of paying kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime on behalf of the Congress Party and its leader Natwar Singh.
Sehgal, a close associate of Natwar's son Jagat Singh, has been thoroughly interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate but has denied having been party to any oil transaction.
The discovery of a written contract between Sehgal and Masefield AG and NRI Khanna's purported confession to ED about Sehgal's role in the scam belies Prime Minister Manmohan's assertion that mention of Natwar Singh and the Congress Party in the Volcker report amounted to "unverified references".
And Mr Singh's letters introducing Sehgal to the Iraqi deputy premier have demolished the former External Affairs Minister's claim that he knew nothing about the oil deal.
In one of these purported letters, Mr Singh has introduced Sehgal as a friend of his son Jagat Singh and recommended him for contracts under the UN-sponsored oil-for-food programme.
As a senior BJP leader pointed out that media reports about Mr Singh's letters, the contract between Hamdaan and Masefield and the alleged confession of the London-based NRI have not been denied either by the Government or the Congress.
"Natwar Singh has shifted from denial mode to silence mode. This clearly shows that references to him and Paul Volcker were not unverified but a result of careful and painstaking investigation," Mr Jaitley said.
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