Wednesday, November 16 2005 14:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: The United Nations (UN) is considering extending the term of Volcker Committee, which ends on November 30, at least by a month that may give some time to Indian investigators to go into allegations against former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and the Congress party in the Iraqi oil payoffs.

The announcement by the UN spokesperson that extension was being considered came yesterday (Nov 15, 2005) as the United Nations body and the Volcker Committee were still discussing transfer to the world body of documents on which its findings were based.

During a meeting with India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen recently, Former United States (US) Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who heads the committee, had made it clear that his panel would share information only with the investigating agencies after they let it know what precisely they were looking for. Even then it might not share documents on which waiver of the concerned parties is needed.

The spokesperson said the Committee, which inquired into allegations of corruption in the now defunct Iraqi oil-for-food programme, will not take up new issues, thus indicating that the purpose would be for the UN to try to get as many documents as possible.

The Committee is expected to return to the concerned Governments and agencies the documents, which were given to it on the understanding that their sources would not be shared with others or their sources revealed.

Replying to a question, the spokesperson said no decision has as yet been made on which documents would be transferred and discussions are ongoing between UN's legal department, the Volcker Committee and the Iraqi Government, indicating that consent of Baghdad would be necessary for transfer of some of the documents.

The UN, she said, would like to have as much access as possible and the issue of access is very important to the world body.