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Indian minister resigns over iraq oilforfood Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-07T172119Z_01_MOL762399_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDIA-UN-VOLCKER.xmlhttp://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-07T172119Z_01_MOL762399_RTRUKOC_0_US-INDIA-UN-VOLCKER.xml
Indian minister resigns over Oil-For-Food
Mon Nov 7, 2005 12:21 PM ET
By Kamil Zaheer
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh resigned his post on Monday, becoming the first political casualty of an independent report into irregularities in the United Nations' oil-for-food program for Iraq.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take over his duties, a spokesman for the prime minister said. Natwar Singh will remain in the cabinet pending the outcome of inquiries, spokesman Sanjaya Baru said.
Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker said after a year-long investigation that politicians benefited from the $64 billion oil-for-food program for Iraq.
Both Natwar Singh and the Congress party were named in an annex to the report detailing beneficiaries of oil allocations made by the government of former president Saddam Hussein.
While the report did not ascribe any motives for the allocations, witnesses in other similar transactions said politicians had been rewarded for backing the Iraqi government or an end to U.N. sanctions.
Singh has denied any wrongdoing and any involvement in oil deals with Iraq. A government statement said he asked the prime minister to relieve him of his portfolio.
Analysts do not see an immediate threat to the coalition government, led by the Congress party.
"I would think that probably this decision for Natwar Singh to step aside for a while is probably one of the quickest responses for any of the people on the (Volcker) list," Dr. Gareth Price, the head of the Asia Department of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said in London.
"He is not going to threaten to bring down the government or anything like this if he is asked to step down briefly."
Others say the government's image has been marred by Singh staying in the cabinet.
"This is not at all acceptable. He should quit," political commentator Kuldip Nayar said. "He still remains a member of government and this is a wrong message."
"The Congress is also in the dock and should face this crisis squarely and with much more transparency," he added.
CONGRESS DEMANDS EVIDENCE
The government has launched two inquiries into the findings of the Volcker report.
Singh, who has been under pressure from the opposition to quit, was not immediately available for comment on Monday.
The 119-year-old Congress, bristling after its naming in the report, has written to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asking for sources of evidence relating to it.
"The Congress Party wishes to unequivocally and categorically state that it had not authorized any company or firm or individual to represent or act on behalf of the Congress Party in any oil-for-food contract," the letter by the party said.
Asked about India's case last week, Volcker said he could not immediately recall details but the basic records came from Iraq and were generally accurate.
"In some cases we simply listed information we had, some of it from Iraqi records," Volcker told The Conference Board business group. "Very generally when we have had the capability of validating the Iraqi records, they have been accurate."
However, he said his commission was not able to delve into every bribe or kickback or company listed.
Seizing on the Volcker report, the opposition BJP and its allies wrote to President Abdul Kalam on Monday demanding Singh's removal from the federal cabinet.
"He has embarrassed the government. By continuing as minister without portfolio he has earned himself a price for silence," Arun Jaitley, BJP spokesman, said on NDTV television.
(Additional reporting by Siddhartha Dubey in London and Evelyn Leopold in the United Nations)
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