Thursday, November 10 2005 17:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Ministry of Company Affairs today (Nov 10, 2005) said it will look into the Volcker Committee report to see whether there has been any company violation by the Indian corporates named in it.

"I have asked my officers to go through the report and see whether there is anything worth looking at by the Ministry for company law violation," Company Affairs Minister P C Gupta told PTI here.

The exercise would be confined to the Ministry itself and there were no plans to involve or take help from other ministries, including Finance, at this stage, he added.

"It is primarily an internal exercise and will take about a fortnight to be completed," Gupta said.

A probe, if any required, would be announced only after completion of the exercise, he said, asking the media to desist from creating 'unnecessary confusion' in the minds of the business community.

The 623-page UN enquiry report by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has named more than two dozen Indian companies, which include STC, Tata International, Hamdan Exports, Kirloskar Engines, Ajanta Pharma, Mohan Exports, L T Overseas Ltd, Jord Engineers and National Electrical Industry.

These companies are alleged to have paid kickbacks for getting business under UN's Oil-for-Food Programme.

The issue has raged into a major controversy following the naming of the Congress Party and its senior leader Natwar Singh as beneficiaries in the report. While Singh had to step down as External Affairs Minister after this, the Government has ordered a judicial probe into the matter headed by former Chief Justice R S Pathak.