Paul Volcker

New York: Paul Volcker, who authored the controversial United Nations report on the oil-for-food programme during the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, has indicated that External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh was asked for his comments when he was listed.

At a function here in which he spoke on the issue of U.N. reforms in the context of his report alleging largescale corruption in the oil-for-food programme, Mr. Volcker said, "I came to know yesterday that Natwar Singh is India's Foreign Minister." All those named in the report were given a chance to clarify. "Everybody was notified that they are going to be listed, and we also indicated what their response was, if any."

"If the response was that of denial, we listed it and if the response, in a few cases, was `yes, we did it' that was listed. Many got no response, many were in between," he said.

The report mentioned Mr. Singh as a "non-contractual" beneficiary of the programme.

Mr. Volcker was unfazed by the Congress threat of legal action. "The party is welcome to send a legal notice," he said with a laugh. The Indian Government's surprise and the questions over the credibility of the report were unfounded.

Mr. Volcker said:

"The U.N. has certain privileges and immunities. And, we also in some cases have the analysis but in some cases we certainly listed the information indicated from Iraqi records.

"...We didn't say what is right or wrong. We only said what was there in the Iraqi records, whether there was denial, acceptance, if there was something in between or no answers." — UNI, PTI

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