NEW DELHI, 3 December 2005 — A former associate of an Indian minister facing accusations of profiting from the UN’s oil-for-food scheme for Iraq went to the press yesterday, saying the allegations were true.
In an interview with Aaj Tak television, the transcripts of which were published by the India Today news magazine, Anil Mathrani, India’s ambassador to Croatia, said Natwar Singh, former external affairs minister, and the Congress party got special vouchers to purchase oil cheaply from Baghdad when Congress was out of power.
Mathrani’s claim resulted in chaos in Parliament where the opposition demanded the arrest of the minister without portfolio and forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make a statement. The prime minister pledged to probe the new allegations. “We are determined that truth must prevail in this matter,” the Congress party premier told Parliament as opposition members jeered.
“Our government believes in maintaining high standards of probity and transparency in public life and I can assure the house that no one who is guilty will go unpunished,” he said.
An independent UN inquiry, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, implicated the Congress party, Natwar and scores of Indian private companies as illegal beneficiaries of the oil-for-food program during Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq.
Mathrani, a former Congress official, was part of a delegation which Natwar led to Iraq in 2001. In the Aaj Tak interview, Mathrani said the Iraqis had rewarded Natwar with an oil allotment for his “personal service.”
Mathrani charged that Natwar was instrumental in introducing his son Jagat and his cousin Andaleeb Sehgal to Iraqi officials, in order to participate in the scheme.
“When Natwar introduced his son and Sehgal to all the Iraqi officials he didn’t have to say anything,” Mathrani said. “They could go later and do whatever business they wanted to do,” he said.
Mathrani said 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 organized the delegation and introduced the ones who would execute whatever was given.” Natwar described Mathrani’s accusation as “false and malicious” and said he was contemplating to sue him in a court for defamation.
“The obvious question is why did he give the interview now. If he were so concerned why didn’t he go public earlier?
“He was in Delhi when the Volcker report came out... My conscience is clear. I am ready to face any inquiry which is time bound so that my name is cleared at the earliest,” Natwar said.
