Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 2, 2005
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=59336
In a sensational disclosure, India's Ambassador
to Croatia Aniel Mathrani on friday claimed that Natwar Singh, who was stripped
off the External Affairs Ministry portfolio after being named in the Volcker
Committee report on Iraq's Oil-for-Food scam, had received oil allotment from
Saddam Hussein's regime for his 'personal services'.
Mathrani, who worked closely with Singh in
the AICC Foreign Affairs cell before Congress came to power, told a news channel
that both the allottees of oil coupons - Singh and the Congress are "exactly
the same."
"The fact of the matter is that both
allottees...in my view are exactly the same...one has been to Natwar and the
other one to the Congress party. One for Natwar's personal services. Don't
forget that he has been the one who has been espousing Iraq's cause,"
he said.
Mathrani said Natwar's son Jagat and his 'cousin'
Andaleeb Sehgal had joined the delegation in Iraq in 2001 and stayed with
them at the same hotel owned by the then ruling Baath party.
He claimed that the former External Affairs
Minister told the Iraqi Ambassador that he would like his son to accompany
him as it would be a difficult journey.
"When we reached the airport, Jagat Singh
came there and he took the flight with us. At the airport (in Baghdad) we
were received by Indian embassy officials and taken to Hotel Intercontinental.
After we assembled in the lobby Andaleeb Sehgal appeared," he said.
Natwar then introduced Andaleeb as "his
son's cousin and somebody, who is familiar with Iraq and whose visit to Iraq
was timed at the same time by coincidence," Mathrani said.
Mathrani claimed that both Jagat and Andaleeb
were present at the dinner hosted by the then Indian ambassador to Iraq.
The Hotel al-Rashid where the delegation stayed
was a Baath Party hotel and "all who stayed there were guests of the
party. Now you see the transition in Baghdad. Jagat became part of the delegation
and he and Andaleeb checked-in with us. You can't check into a Baath party
hotel unless you are a part of the delegation. So local hospitality from the
Iraqis was offered to Jagat and Andaleeb which they accepted," he said.
Mathrani said the "groundwork" for
payoffs was laid during the delegation's visit to Iraq as the "important
thing was to take that delegation and have these two (Jagat and Sehgal) in
it and to have them introduced formally.
"When Natwar introduced his son and Sehgal
to all the Iraqi officials, he didn't have to say anything. All that he had
to do was to show that they were in the delegation that they were his son
and his (Jagat's) cousin, therefore it was confidential.
"They could go later and do whatever
business they wanted to do. You don't have to say anything to the face. The
fact that they were introduced was a clear signal to the Iraqi's," he
was quoted as saying in transcript published by the channel's magazine arm
India Today.
Mathrani claimed that the "entire operation
was managed through the Iraqi embassy in Delhi and in Jordan. The Iraqis needed
a green signal (for oil allocation) and it was provided by Natwar. He organised
the delegation and introduced the ones, who would execute whatever was given,"
he added.
He claimed that the members of the delegation
had come to know about the activities of Jagat and Andaleeb, but did not question
it as "you don't question what the head of your delegation is doing."
He said Natwar, Jagat and Sehgal were confined
to Natwar's room. "It was a very closed group. By that time it was becoming
quite clear that they were looking for trade."
"Because of Sehgal's activities, it was
clear that he was a businessman looking to do some business in Iraq, that
Jagat was helping him and that they were partners."
Mathrani said Jagat and Sehgal were present
during the delegation's meetings with Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz
and Iraqi Vice President Taha Ramadan and both of them were introduced by
Natwar Singh, the leader of the delegation.
"It had been planned to give an impression
to the Iraqi leadership that the delegation had a political component (Natwar
and three others) and a business component (Jagat and Sehgal). Perhaps they
had intimated to the Iraqis what they intended to do," he claimed.
He said Jagat and Sehgal also returned with
the delegation to Jordan in the same flight and stayed back in Amman.
He also rubbished Natwar and Congress's claim
that they did not know about their names linked to the Oil-For-Food scandal.
"I refuse to believe, when Natwar says
he knew nothing about it. Of course, he knew all these things from the beginning
but preferred to keep quiet. "He told a select group that he had known
for some time about his and Congress' name being there but preferred not to
react. That Natwar and the Congress never knew is hogwash," Mathrani
said.
Mathrani, in the interview to India today's
associate editor Saurabh Shukla, said he spotted Jamil Saidi, a former Congress
leader, in Amman and he re-appeared in Baghdad. "I remember seeing him
at al-Rashid hotel."
When pointed about Saidi's denial, he said,
"yes, he had something to do with it. Hundred per cent. All of them were
together - Jagat, Sehgal and this Jamil character.
