Wednesday, November 2 2005 16:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh has decided to make a suo motu statement in Parliament on allegations that he was a beneficiary in Iraqi oil deals during the Saddam Hussein regime as claimed in a UN report which he has rubbished as baseless and untrue.

"I am not going to speak through the media. I will make a suo motu statement when Parliament meets (later this month)," he told sources today (Nov 2, 2005).

Singh drew attention to the fact that Russia, whose some top-level functionaries figure in the report prepared by former US Federal reserve chairman Paul Volcker, had also stated that many of the documents produced by the report were dubious or falsified.

He pointed out that his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov has been quoted as saying that "In a number of instances, the Commission presented Russia with rather dubious or clearly falsified documents concerning Russia's participation in the oil for food programme".

The Minister has expressed his outrage over the report, charging that it was part of a campaign to malign the Congress party and its senior leaders.

"My record in public life for the past 50 years and more has been an open book. My personal integrity has never been questioned," he stated.

The minister questioned the validity of the UN report, contending that nobody from the panel had asked him anything before reaching a conclusion. The report names him and the Congress party as 'non-contractual beneficiaries' in the oil deals.

Singh has made it clear that he was not against a probe but wanted to know what could be investigated in the absence of any evidence. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had demanded that Singh should resign immediately.

Singh accused Volcker and his 'Independent Inquiry Committee' of violating all rules of fairness and targeting those who were opposed to US aggressive actions against Iraq.

The External Affairs Minister said he suspected a political design behind his name being mentioned since he had opposed the US war on Iraq and firmly opposed sending Indian troops to the war-ravaged country.

The minister has emphatically stated that his son, Jagat Singh, also had nothing to do with this affair.

Backing the minister, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on Sunday said that there was 'insufficient' material to arrive at any adverse conclusion against the External Affairs Minister.