Thursday, November 3 2005 17:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh, whose name figured as a 'non-contractual beneficiary' in the UN probe committee's report on Iraq's oil-for-food programme,today (Nov 03, 2005) denied having seen External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh's name on 'documents' linked to the oil deal.

Claiming that he had been misquoted in a media report that said he had seen Singh's name in a document, he blasted the Volcker report as an attempt to 'prepare the ground for the civil prosecution of my good friend (deposed Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein.'

"I would like to place on record that I read the name of Shri Natwar Singh in website last year only when I was searching my name. I also saw the name of (British MP) George Galloway in the website. I never saw any name of any company or any beneficiary on any document in Baghdad or otherwise," he said.

Singh said the listing, made after the Volcker panel's preliminary findings last year, was 'Natwar Singh/Congress.'

The Panthers Party chief said he was offered a 16-page contract to lift seven million barrels of oil but had turned it down as "My consciousness did not allow me to barter my love and support for Iraq for monetary gain."

The contract would have earned him Rs 41 crore, he claimed.

He said there was "No illegality in accepting contracts under the programme as it did not violate any national or international law."

But he added that it would be 'immoral' to accept commissions in this way.

Asked whether he was defending the External Affairs Minister, Bhim Singh, whose party is an ally of Congress-led Government of Jammu and Kashmir, said, "I have no love lost for Congress or Natwar Singh. I am the greatest enemy of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir. If this was some other case, I would have never defended Congress."

But when asked whether he felt the Congress was wrong in accepting the contracts, he said, "No party or politician should become a commission agent. It is immoral."

Asked whether Natwar Singh should resign on moral grounds, he merely said, "It is only for the Congress to decide."

Singh claimed that the contract had not been offered to him by Iraqi Government officials.

"The UN Monitoring Committee headed by the Secretary General himself was overseeing the whole process. If there was some scam, the Secretary General should have been the first person to resign," he said.

The Panthers Party chief, who claimed he was still a 'good friend' of Saddam Hussein, said the Volcker report was prepared only to add to the deposed President's charge sheet.

"This report is a civil prosecution of Saddam Hussein. It has prepared the ground for another trial of Saddam. They have used political jargon of accusation," he said.