Cong seeks Volcker details from UN chief

Both the Congress and the Opposition NDA today wrote letters to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, requesting him to provide the documents on the basis of which the Volcker committee had reached its conclusion about the Indian beneficiaries in the oil-for-food scam.

The government has already set up a judicial probe headed by former chief justice of India RS Pathak, following which External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh asked to be relieved of his portfolio.

The Congress letter""which did not make any reference to Natwar Singh""requested the UN secretary-general to furnish documents or any other evidence on the basis of which the party's name was listed among the non-contractual beneficiaries in the Iraq oil payoff.

The letter, sent through legal firm Amarchand Mangaldas today, indicated a significant climbdown from the party's tough pronouncements on November 3 to send a "comprehensive legal notice" to the UN and the Volcker committee.

Apart from the copies of the records or any other sources of evidence, the party sought clarification from the UN secretary general on whether the committee had sent any prior notice to the Congress before including its name as a beneficiary.

If the answer to it is in the affirmative, the party will want a copy of the notice and the address to which it was sent.

Refuting the suggestion that the Congress was launching a parallel probe, All India Congress Committee General Secretary Ambika Soni said, "We will take help from whatever comes out from the official probe. We are doing it (writing to Annan) at our own level too."

Asked about the absence of any mention of Natwar Singh in the letter, Soni argued that the minister himself had already clarified everything.

The general secretary refused to answer any further questions about Natwar Singh and accused the media of trying to drive a wedge between the party and the government.

Later in the afternoon, another genial face of the Congress, Jayanti Natarajan, was found to be fumbling for words to explain the party's stance on whether Natwar Singh should continue in the Cabinet in the wake of the two probes ordered by the government into his alleged involvement in oil-for-food scam. "We stand by the highest level of integrity" was all that Natarajan would repeat trying to fob off the questions.

The Opposition, however, did not take the same view even after the external affairs minister was relieved of his portfolio. The BJP described the move as an "unsavoury deal" and said the "compromise solution" had made the needle of suspicion point firmly towards the Congress and eroded further the prime ministerial authority.

"Natwar Singh created a public scene and earned a prize for silence," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley told agencies.

In its letter to the UN, the NDA said though it would not like domestic politics to be dragged into the international arena, it was, nevertheless, concerned because the issue related to national honour.

Meanwhile, Justice Pathak has said he will brook no interference. "It will be a thorough probe, a fully independent one," Pathak told reporters. The octogenarian judge, who has also served at the International Court at the Hague, said he would not hesitate to call anyone "if there is a need" and carry out an independent inquiry.

Promising a "thorough and fully independent" probe, the octogenarian judge, who has also served at the international court of justice at the hague, said he would not hesitate to call anyone, including the external affairs minister, for questioning "if there is a need".

"It will be a thorough probe, a fully independent one... And I will not entertain any interference," Pathak told reporters shortly after being appointed to inquire into the allegations implicating Natwar Singh and the Congress party as beneficiaries of Iraqi oil pay-offs. "My objective is to determine the truth into the allegations made," he said adding that the commission would probe into the entire findings of the Volcker report.