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Oil-for-Food scam : Pathak Report to be tabled today

	August 07, 2006

There is no sign of the controversy over the leakage of the Pathak Inquiry Authority report on the Iraqi oil-for-food scam ending even when the Government tables both the authority findings and Action Taken Report (ATR) in Parliament today, August 7. The functioning of both Houses of Parliament was disrupted on Friday, August 4, on account of what the Opposition termed as leakage of the report just at the time Justice Pathak presented it to the Prime Minister. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also joined Members in expressing his displeasure over the leakage of the report before it was presented to Parliament.



While the Government is investigating how the findings of the report came to be reported in the media, it is hoping to deflect attention from the lapse by tabling the Pathak report on Volcker allegations in Parliament just days after its submission. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said that for the first time, an action taken report would be presented to Parliament within four days of the Government receiving an inquiry report.



Justice R.S. Pathak submitted his report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the evening of Thursday, August 3. The authority had gone into allegations that oil vouchers were given under the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq to certain individuals by the then Saddam Hussein Government in that country. The world body’s Volcker Committee had alleged that former Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and the Congress were among the non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil vouchers which were sold to oil trading firms for a commission.





‘Clean chit’ for Congress, Natwar Singh ‘misused’ position



Justice R.S. Pathak, in his report, has given a “clean chit” to the Congress party, but found that former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and his son, Jagat Singh, an MLA from Rajasthan `misused’ their positions to get the oil vouchers. The 110-page report of the Inquiry Authority traces the money-trail to Andaleeb Sehgal, Director of Hamdan Exports and a friend of Jagat Singh; and Aditya Khanna, a relative of Natwar Singh and brother of Arvind Khanna, a Congress MLA from Punjab. Sehgal and Aditya Khanna reportedly transferred the money to their Swiss bank accounts, the report said.



Both Sehgal and Khanna “misused” the Congress party’s name at every stage. The Pathak panel found during investigations that Natwar Singh, misusing his position, had written several letters to the Iraqi Oil Minister. This swung the contracts in favour of Sehgal and Khanna.



Sehgal and Khanna, in turn, passed on the contracts to the Swiss company Masefield AG, which drew oil and paid them a commission, the report said. 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 the ratio of 4:1.



According to the report, the money was not transferred to either Natwar Singh or Jagat Singh, highly placed government sources said. Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, who probed the Indian angle in the scam, questioned Natwar Singh and his son in detail.



The Government in November last announced the scope of the probe by the Authority into the references made in the Volcker Report to the former External Affairs Minister and the Congress. The Authority was vested with powers under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, including the powers of a civil court for summoning witnesses and documents and receiving evidence.



Natwar Singh said the Pathak report had held that neither he nor his son derived any financial benefit. He questioned how aspersions could be cast on him and the Congress party given a clean chit.



“The report of Justice Pathak says that my son and I have derived no financial benefit. That is the crux of the matter,” Natwar Singh told reporters at his house, after the Inquiry Authority submitted its report.





Natwar on warpath : Worrying developments for Congress



While the Congress chose to take a cautious line on the Pathak Inquiry Authority Report, saying that it would come out with its considered view only when the action taken report is placed before Parliament, the Opposition as well as Natwar Singh tried to link the Congress leadership with the benefits accruing from the oil-for-food vouchers. The BJP, apart from demanding a discussion on the Pathak report and its leakage, has called for registration of a First Information Report (FIR) and a criminal investigation into the money trails on both the Congress and Natwar Singh oil contracts.



Natwar Singh called the Pathak Report a political document. He said, “I will speak on the leak of the report, on the naming of me and the Congress by Volcker and all issues that have been raised. I hope to defend myself in Parliament.”





Privilege notice by Natwar Singh



There are reports that the former External Affairs Minister has moved a privilege motion in the Rajya Sabha, Upper House of Parliament, against the Prime Minister. Sources say that a privilege notice submitted by Natwar Singh to Rajya Sabha Chairman, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on Friday, August 4, alleges that the Prime Minister’s Office had leaked the report to malign his image.



Observers say that it is rare for a party MP to move a privilege motion against his own Prime Minister. The development shows the extent to which Natwar Singh is willing to go in his war against his own Government. The response of the Prime Minister and the party will be keenly watched now that the veteran Jat leader has openly joined the Opposition in putting the Prime Minister in the dock.



Sources said Natwar is convinced that the PM and some Ministers are trying to make him a scapegoat in the Iraqi oil-for-food programme and if he remains mum, the Enforcement Directorate may implicate him as a beneficiary.



Incidentally, the ED has seized a car from Jagat Singh claiming it was bought from the proceeds of the Iraqi oil pay-off. Jagat Singh claims that the car does not belong to him. The ED is believed to have recommended scrutiny of income tax returns of Natwar Singh and his son.



The Justice Pathak report indicts Natwar Singh and his son with “misuse of position”, a charge the duo has dismissed, saying Natwar Singh did not hold any official position when he wrote three letters to introduce Andleeb Sehgal to Iraqi authorities.



Sources said that Natwar Singh has made up his mind to part ways with the Congress. They said that Natwar Singh understands that it is impossible for him to return to any position in the Congress and there is no risk in taking a political gamble at this stage in his career when he has very little to lose.



Natwar is feeling emboldened by the support he has got from the Opposition. The NDA and Samajwadi Party have criticised the Pathak report’s clean chit to the Congress and claimed that Natwar is being made a scapegoat.





Probe Reliance angle : CPI(M)



Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has added another perspective to the oil for food scam by demanding an inquiry into the benefits cornered by Reliance Petroleum in the oil for food deal with Iraq. Party general secretary Prakash Karat said in Ahmedabad on August 5 that he was surprised that both the Congress and the BJP were silent on the role played by the private sector oil company.



Even while refusing to comment on the outcome of the Pathak Inquiry Authority report, since he had not yet “seen” it, Karat said the `report’ as leaked in the media had named three beneficiaries as guilty but was silent on the “biggest beneficiary,” Reliance Petroleum, which was issued the maximum number of coupons.



He wondered why the Enforcement Directorate did not investigate the company’s role and neither the Government nor the main Opposition party was raising the issue. He wanted an inquiry into the “leak” of the Pathak report before it was placed on the table of Parliament as it was in session.



A spokesperson of Reliance Industries Limited said the company had always followed all national and international laws, and had kept the Central Government informed at every stage about their dealings with foreign countries, as required by law.





Pathak rejects ‘bias’ charge



Justice Pathak has brushed aside the Opposition allegation that Natwar Singh was made a scapegoat and Congress party exonerated in the oil-for-food scam without being heard by him.



“Please read the report. You will understand everything. I don’t want to make any comment now,” he told a news agency on being asked about the Opposition allegation that the Congress party was given a clean chit without the probe panel issuing any notice to it.



Asked about reports quoting Natwar Singh that he had given a letter of recommendation to Jagat Singh for admission to a British law college, Pathak said, “I don’t recall. It was so long ago.”



Pressed further whether he knew Natwar Singh or his family, the former Chief Justice said, “I knew Natwar Singh. But I did not know his son.”



On the possibility of Natwar requesting him for a note of introduction, Justice Pathak said “he may have asked for the letter. But it is such a long time back. It must have been 20 years ago. I can’t recall.”



The BJP, meanwhile, demanded the Govt set up a committee comprising leaders from both the Opposition and the ruling UPA to inquire into the media leaks of the Pathak authority report.





Probe into report leakage



Faced with the uproar in Parliament on the leakage of the Pathak report, the Government has decided to hold an inquiry into the leakage and has promised to take strong and firm action against those found guilty. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said in New Delhi on August 4 that the purported contents of the report were telecast on Thursday, August 3, even before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh received the report which was then sent to the Finance Ministry.



Dasmunsi promised that the United Progressive Alliance Government would not take more time to complete this process than what the National Democratic Alliance regime took on the Subramaniam committee report on the Kargil issue.



The focus of the inquiry, he suggested, would not be on the media houses that published the Pathak report, but on the person or persons who leaked it to the media.



Decrying the BJP “fondness” for disrupting Parliament on every issue, Dasmunsi said the former Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, now Leader of the Opposition, “showed no concern” when the Subramaniam report was leaked selectively before it was tabled in the House.



On his charge that the Government “managed” the Pathak inquiry to get a clean chit for the Congress, Dasmunsi said, “Advani was himself a master manipulator, whether it was [in] the matter of demolition of the Babri Masjid or other things. He is insulting Justice R.S. Pathak by saying this.”