Drop Natwar Singh, Now!
Dated 4/11/2005
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Congress's threat to issue a "comprehensive legal notice to the UN and the Volcker Committee" gets a "mirthful" reaction from the author of the report, as the BJP turns on the heat on UPA and Congress.
Instead of ordering a domestic probe (into the Iraqi oil deals), the Foreign Minister alleges that the Americans have fixed him due to his opposition to the sanctions and the war.
The Congress has trivialized the issues by threatening legal action against the United Nations. This is Indian diplomacy at its lowest
Report is a document of high international credibility. Russia, Switzerland, Australia and South Africa have already directed domestic probes into the facts disclosed by the report.
If the Congress party denies that it did not receive any financial benefits, then it should be sending a legal notice to Natwar Singh and the other epicentres of the scam. Instead, the Congress is choosing to send a legal notice to the United Nations which is incapable of being sued in India's municipal courts.
This is an opportunity for the Prime Minister to decide whether he runs a Government or merely occupies an office. The credibility of the Government, governance and the Prime Ministerial Office is at stake.
The Prime Minister should drop Natwar Singh from the cabinet, order a domestic probe and register criminal case against persons involved in the scam if this credibility is to be restored.
Text of the letter to Prime Minister sent on November 3
November 3, 2005
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Hon,ble Prime Minister of India
7, Race Course Road
New Delhi.
Dear Prime Minister,
Ever since the UN-sponsored independent committee headed by Shri Paul Volcker named External Affairs Minister Shri K. Natwar Singh as a "non-contractual beneficiary" of payoffs by the erstwhile Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, the credibility of India in the international community has taken a nosedive.
It is bad enough that the Minister who represents India in world affairs is implicated in a murky international scandal. What compounds the offence is that he continues to remain External Affairs Minister, with your full backing. Your comment that the UN-sponsored report contains "insufficient" evidence to warrant "any adverse conclusion" constitutes a total disregard of available facts. By rubbishing the report to score a narrow political point, you are mocking an important initiative to make the United Nations more accountable. Your defence of an errant colleague has tarnished the quality of our democracy.
Mr Prime Minister, the observations of the Volcker Report on Shri Natwar Singh are well known to you. For your benefit, I would like to highlight a few coincidences:
* The coincidence of the exact sum of $748,540 collected by Masefield AG as illegal surcharge being deposited by Shri Andleeb Sehgal and his company M/s Hamdan Export into accounts in the Jordan National Bank.
* The coincidence of M/s Hamdan Export and Shri Andleeb Sehgal undertaking a job when the specified non-contractual beneficiary is Shri K.Natwar Singh and the Congress Party.
* The coincidence of M/s Hamdan Export and Shri Andleeb Sehgal being the link between Iraqi recipients of the surcharge and Masefield AG of Switzerland.
* The coincidence of the families of Shri Jagat Singh and Shri Andleeb Sehgal being on the most intimate of terms.
* The coincidence of Shri Jagat Singh and Shri Andleeb Sehgal travelling to Jordan around the time payments were made into accounts in the Jordan National Bank.
* The coincidence of Shri K. Natwar Singh and Shri Jagat Singh travelling to Iraq together.
* The coincidence of Shri Jagat Singh being the son of Shri K Natwar Singh.
Mr Prime Minister you will agree that there are far too many coincidences in this story. Some of them could do with some explanation.
In any case there is a sufficient body of evidence to warrant a review of your initial clean chit to Shri Natwar Singh. Prima facie, there is compelling evidence to suggest that Shri Natwar Singh allowed himself to be used as a lobbyist for Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The charges need to be investigated fully by an independent body. However, pending such an inquiry, the Volcker Committee
