Washington, D.C., Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - It is important to not let the whole 'tamasha' in the Indian media about, and by, ex-Foreign minister Natwar Singh and his critics detract us from the fact that the Congress party, and hundreds of Indian business firms were also charged with the same allegation as well, (in the Iraqi oil for food scandal investigation) ordered by the U.N., which was led by that distinguished American, a former ex-chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Mr. Paul Volcker, a man widely known for his integrity and ability.
The Volcker committee's report, was made public on 27 October 2005, It is the fifth and final report of the "Independent Inquiry Committee" on the "manipulation" by Iraq of the United Nations' Oil-For-Food Programme (OFFP) between 1996 and 2003. The Committee was appointed in April 2004 - a year after United States-led forces invaded Iraq - by Secretary General Kofi Annan amidst allegations of fraud and corruption on the part of U.N. officials, personnel, agents, and contracting companies. It was asked to investigate the administration and management of the Oil-For-Food-Programme, including the allegations.
Readers may recollect that following the 1991 Gulf War, triggered by the Saddam regime's calamitous invasion of Kuwait, Iraq was under a deadly regime of U.N. sanctions between 1991 and 2003. According to Iraq Under Siege, a book of well-documented indictments and analyses edited by Anthony Arnove, the sanctions regime took a direct toll of a million Iraqi lives. There is some truth that a lot of suffering was indeed inflicted on Iraq and its people by the sanctions regime which allowed the country with the world's second largest proven reserves of crude oil to resume exports only in December 1996.
The second major problem for some critics of the UN's investigative exercise was the composition of the "Independent Inquiry Committee." It was headed by Paul A.Volcker, former chairman of the chief occupying power's Federal Reserve Board. The two other members were Justice Richard J. Goldstone, a former judge of the South African Supreme Court and Constitutional Court who had made his mark in the law during the days of apartheid; and Mark Pieth, a Swiss law professor specialising in the tracking of transnational corruption, money laundering, and organised crime.
The Volcker Committee has singled out 'irregularities' in the UN administered oil-for-food programme under which Iraq was allowed to sell oil and buy food, medicines and other essential requirements to ease the rigour of UN sanctions and named a large group of people to whom Saddam Hussein allegedly gave quotas of oil to sell on Iraq's behalf in the knowledge that at 3-30 cents margin a barrel they would each earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. The purpose, say some Saddam baiters, was "to engender international support against UN sanctions". Some observors dubbed this as the "Saddam bribery scheme". Needless to say, nearly all the persons the committee singled out were staunch opponents of the UN sanctions and the Anglo/ U.S. invasion of Iraq. The Volcker Report suggests that among the hundreds of non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil purchase contracts under the United Nation's "Oil for Food" programme were such entities as India's Congress Party, Indian Foreign minister Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh, his son's friend and relative one Andaleeb (Andy) Sehgal and hundreds of Indian business firms.
It is relevant to mention that during the period in which the United Nations had imposed sanctions against Iraq, that country had to sell its oil at the pre-fixed UN determined price. However, in order to solicit support for its cause and its opposition to the U.N. sanctions, Iraq started handing over oil coupons to friendly individuals and organisations world over. The sale of oil under these coupons was to have a surcharge and the amount of surcharge was to be credited back to individual bank accounts for the benefit of the then Iraqi Government. Amongst Indian entities to whom these oil coupons were issued were Mr. Natwar Singh and the Congress Party. The purchase of oil under these contracts was done by a Swiss Company, Mesfield AG. It has further been prima facie established that against these contracts kick-backs were deposited in the Bank of Jordan by two Indian entities, namely, Hamdan Inc. and Mr. Andaleeb Sehgal. Sehgal is a Natwar family friend and a relative - his wife is related to Natwar Singh's wife. It is, thus, clear that in violation of the sanctions, oil purchases took place under contracts where profit was being distributed by the then Iraqi regime to the Congress party and Natwar Singh. For an alphabetical list of hundreds of Indian firms involved in Iraq's shady Oil for Food Programme, culled from the Volcker Report, showing 'Contract face value', 'Contract disbursement' and 'After sales service fees paid', please click at the following link:
www.hindu.com/thehindu/nic/oilforfood.pdf Well known Indian columnist, Prem Shankar Jha, writing in an opinion piece in support of ex-Foreign minister Natwar Singh, which appeared in the Outlook magazine yesterday, (
www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fname=Column%20Prem%20(F)&fodname=20050606&sid=1) asserts, unconvincingly, that, "Since the (1946) Nurnberg trials, it has been more or less axiomatic that for a law to be valid it must conform to some basic principle of justice, or morality. An individual has a duty to resist, even disobey, orders that transgressed this fundamental principle. By this yardstick, Saddam had a moral obligation to fight the sanctions by any and every means that came to hand. Others had the moral obligation to help him do so. Whether George Galloway, Fawaz Zureikat or Charles Pasqua did or did not trade in oil or profit from it is irrelevant. Only in a world that has lost its moral and institutional moorings completely can this be portrayed as a crime. It is as much a crime as helping Jews to escape from Germany was, in the 1930s." The above is a typical argument by Prem Shankar Jha of the 'end justifying the means'.
The Volker Report reveals that among the non-contractual beneficiaries of the oil purchase contracts under the United Nation's "Oil for Food" programme were the Congress Party and Mr. Natwar Singh, the 'Honorable' External Affairs Minister of India. These benefits pertain to the period when the United Nations had imposed sanctions against Iraq when it had to sell oil at the pre-fixed UN determined price. However, in order to solicit support for its cause and its opposition to the sanctions, Iraq started handing over oil coupons to friendly individuals and organisations world over. The sale of oil under these coupons was to have a surcharge and the amount of surcharge was to be credited back to individual bank accounts for the benefit of the then Iraqi Government. Amongst Indian entities to whom these oil coupons were issued were Mr. Natwar Singh and the Congress Party. The purchase of oil under these contracts was done by a Swiss Company, Mesfield AG. It has further been prima facie established that against these contracts kick-backs were deposited in the Bank of Jordan by two Indian entities, namely, Hamdan Inc. and Mr. A. Sehgal. Mr. Sehgal is purportedly a family friend and a relative of Natwar Singh's wife. It is, thus, clear that in violation of the U.N. sanctions, oil purchases took place under contracts where profit (read bribes) were being distributed by the then Iraq's Saddam regime to the Congress party and Mr. Natwar Singh.
According to the latest Indian media reports Prime minister Manmohan Singh has accepted Mr. Natwar Singh's request and has written to President Kalam that Natwar Singh will henceforth be Minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers. It was also announced that Justice R.S. Pathak, a former Chief Justice of India and former Judge of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, will head an inquiry into matters relating to the Report of the Vocker Independent Inquiry Committee appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to inquire into the UN Oil-for-Food programme. The scope of the Inquiry and the Terms of Reference will be announced shortly.
In another Press Statement it was announced that, "In continuation of the earlier statements made by the Prime Minister on the Volcker Committee Report regarding getting to the root of the matter and establishing the truth or otherwise of the unverified references made in it, the Prime Minister has also decided to appoint Shri Virendra Dayal, former Under Secretary-General, United Nations, and Chef de Cabinet of the UN Secretary-General (1982-92) and former Member of the Human Rights Commission, as a Special Envoy of the Government of India to liaise with the United Nations Organization and its Member States, to gather relevant materials including those on the unverified references in the Report regarding the involvement of Indian entities and individuals. The Special Envoy will be granted full power and authority of the Government of India to execute the responsibilities entrusted to him. The appointment of Shri Dayal will be for an initial term of three months or until the completion of his task, whichever is earlier." Maybe all this activity, after forceful denials earlier, have something to do with what the Enforcement Directorate found during its raids, last week, on Andaleeb ('Andy') Sehgal's trading company - Hamdan Exports - located at A-53, Panchsheel Enclave, New Delhi, which company has been registered (TIN or Trade Identification number: LC\009\152956\0991) since September 28, 1998.
Besides Andaleeb Sehgal, the Enforcement Directorate are keeping a close watch on his and Jagat Singh's friends. Jagat Singh/ Andaleeb Sehgal's 'gang' comprises other high-profile young people like Arvind Khanna, MLA from Punjab, Anil Bhadwaj, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's 's son Sandeep Dikshit and RPN Singh, MLA from Padrauna in UP and an AICC functionary. The buzz is that it is Arvind Khanna who introduced Andy Sehgal's Hamdan Export to Masefield the Swiss firm.
Given Andy Sehgal's association with Jagat Singh (Natwar Singh's son) and given that the same company was used to pay the alleged kickback to Masefield AG, and given Natwar Singh's own belligerent and reckless statements, perhaps his departure from the Ministry of External Affairs had become imperative. But, to drop him altogether would have meant having a disgruntled ex-minister as a loose cannon, capable of causing more harm - and Natwar Singh had not exactly hidden that intent - would have shifted the focus immediately on to the Congress party itself, which, has been charged with the same allegation.
It is obvious to us Sikhs that a typical double speak 'tamasha' is being enacted in Delhi - a la the Bofor's scandal of yesteryears and umpteen judicial commissions set up to investigate the November 1984 mass murders of the Sikhs ordered by Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi's husband, minutes after he inherited, with help of a back office intrigue, the Indian Prime minister's 'throne' of his dead mother on October 31, 1984. It is obvious that everybody, who is anybody, in the corrupt Indian ruling elite was involved in pocketing the largess from Saddam Hussain for years, no one is about to tell the hungry people of India that. The Indian people will not be told that both Justice R.S. Pathak and Mr. Virendra Dayal, no matter how impeccable and impressive their curriculum vitae`, have no standing, legal or otherwise, in the eyes of the U.N. These two can't even enter the security obsessed United Nation's building in New York leave alone examine/ question the U.N. records of the Volcker report.
To conclude; "Countries are like fruit - the worms are always inside", wrote Jean Giraudoux, (1882-1944) the great French dramatist, novelist, essayist and diplomat in his brilliant 1928 book Siegfried. This 'Natwar Singh' tamasha put on by the Manmohan Singh/Sonia Gandhi duo is just that - a noisy 'tamasha' - meant to divert attention from the 'worms' eating the inside of the world's largest 'Brahmin' oligrachic demoNcracy which is (to make a parody of the presciently words of Mr. Winston Churchill) protected by its pollution from the doom that is its due.
