India's foreign minister has been stripped of his post over allegations that he benefited from the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
Foreign Minister Natwar Singh is the first political casualty of a UN independent inquiry committee report released two weeks ago that revealed global corruption in the humanitarian programme that was meant to help sanctions-hit Iraq in the aftermath of the first Gulf war in 1991.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who summoned the Foreign Minister for an hour-long meeting, has named him minister without portfolio, said an official in the Prime Minister's Office. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kickback allegation
Singh left the prime minister's residence, where the meeting was held, without speaking to reporters. He simply waved at them before getting into his car.
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Volcker has accused 2200 firms
and politicians of being involved |
The independent inquiry, headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, has accused more than 2200 companies and prominent politicians worldwide of colluding with Saddam Hussein's government to milk the oil-for-food programme of $1.8 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges.
It named Singh and the ruling Congress party as "non-contractual beneficiary".
After initially treating the report with scepticism, the Indian government earlier on Monday ordered a judicial investigation led by former Indian chief justice RS Pathak to look into the allegations against Singh. The move gave the first indication that Singh's position in the Cabinet had become untenable.
Government investigation
Hours earlier on Sunday, the government also named an envoy to investigate the credibility of Volcker's report, indicating that it is not entirely convinced about its veracity.
NDTV, a local television news channel, said Singh will get his portfolio back if Pathak's investigation clears him. No time frame has been set for the investigation, he said.
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"It is embarrassing for the nation. We have demanded that Natwar Singh be removed from the Cabinet"
Lal Krishna Advani,
Opposition leader |
Sanjaya Baru, the prime minister's spokesman, denied the investigation was aimed at deflecting pressure from Singh,
who is facing opposition calls for his resignation.
"A former chief justice doesn't do cover-ups," he said.
Volcker's report has become a major embarrassment for Singh, a 74-year-old former diplomat who has led India's campaign for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Embarrassment
Also Monday, the Congress party said it had written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan seeking "all such documents on the basis of which the Volcker committee made the allegations".
Meanwhile, opposition parties met Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam and demanded Singh's ousting.
"It is embarrassing for the nation. We have demanded that Natwar Singh be removed from the Cabinet," opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani said after the meeting.
A defiant Singh has, however, rejected calls for his resignation, insisting that he received no favours or bribes from Saddam's government, or benefited from the oil-for-food programme.
SWAMINOMICS: Bought by Saddam Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
The UN Committee on the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, popularly called the Volcker Committee, has revealed that Iraq collected kickbacks on $64.2 billion of oil and $34.5 billion of "humanitarian imports". The Indian media has focused on the listing of foreign minister Natwar Singh and the Congress Party as non-contractual beneficiaries.
Also listed are 130 Indian companies, who paid kickbacks of $2.2 million to get contracts worth $424 million. The companies include big names like Reliance, Tata International, Ranbaxy, Thermax, Dr Reddy's Labs, Godrej and Boyce, Kirloskar Brothers, Wockhardt, Cipla and many others.
In terms of money, this is a huge scam, yet I find remarkably muted indignation in the political class. The Congress says that the Volcker Committee has not given conclusive proof. True, but the report simply lists evidence from Iraqi government files.
It is now up to the police of each country to fully investigate and prosecute the individuals and companies that may be guilty. The BJP is, naturally, up in arms at 'Congress corruption'. What intrigues me, however, is the muted reaction of the Left Front.
Normally, it makes a lot of noise about corruption, and positively screams about corruption through big business. Why then is the Left Front not apoplectic? Why has the CPI actually supported Natwar Singh? One reason may be the recent expose of the Mitrokhin Papers, which showed that large sums were paid by the Soviet Union to communists in India.
Communists who live in glass houses do not throw stones. But more important may be the report's revelations on oil allocations to the Russian Communist Party and other Russian politicians. The report suggests that they were for sale, and Saddam bought them. These are not convenient facts for the Left Front.
Saddam Hussein used the oil-for-food program to buy allies who could lobby for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq. Initially, he gave concessional allocations to US oil companies to soften US attitudes. When that failed, concessional allocations were switched to others who could help.
The largest allocations went to Russia, roughly 30% of oil sales. Allocations were also generous to Chinese, French and Italian players. The report contains photocopies of documents showing that Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Russian Communist Party, received oil allocations totalling 121.5 million barrels.
One letter from Zyuganov shows he was monitoring allocations to an outfit called the Foundation of Friendship with Peoples of Arab States, and asked why a decrease in its allocation had not been "discussed during meetings with you and during my numerous contacts with the Ambassador of Iraq to Russia."
The Russian government says many documents in Iraqi files are forgeries. Zyuganov denies any involvement, and claims that the entire report is a plot by the CIA to discredit Russia. Possibly the Left Front thinks the same.
Yet, it is simply not credible that the CIA would hatch a plot to defame Natwar Singh and the Congress Party at a time when George Bush is trying to boost Indo-US relations. Besides, this is a UN Committee, not an American one, and its membe-rs are financial experts with impeccable global credentials.
They have gone through Iraqi files and named thousands of companies and persons of countries across the globe, including American, Br-itish and French multinationals. Allocations also went to Vladmir Zhirinovsky, head of the Liberal Democratic Party and currently deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament.
Zhirinovsky neglected to pay kickbacks of $5.1 million in full, and had allocations cut off. So he offered to pay by giving Iraq a building in the centre of Moscow! Lukoil, a big Russian company, got 93.4 million barrels, and paid over a million dollars in kickbacks.
Iraqi files show that Alexander Voloshin, chief-of-staff in the administration of the President Putin, was allotted 4.3 million barrels. Voloshin denies this, and says his signature was forged. The Committee agrees that his signature does not match the one in Iraqi files.
This impartial finding gives credibility to its other findings. But it also shows that forgeries did occur, so everybody named should not be assumed guilty. George Galloway, a British MP who campaigned to rescind sanctions against Iraq, got allocations of 18 million barrels.
Jean Berna-rd Merimee, a former French Representative in the UN, and Charles Pasqua, former French minister of the interior, got oil allocations. So did Daimler Chrysler, the big German multinational. There is no space to list more names.
But the key point is that Saddam was attempting to buy influence with oil. And many countries favoured with concessional oil allocations did indeed oppose the US invasion. Some will say this is mere co-incidence.
Others will say that money talks. In any event, we have a new insight into international relations. What the Left calls "independent foreign policy" might also be translated as "bought by Saddam".
