Tuesday, November 29 2005 15:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Alleging a strong prima facie case of pay-offs to Congress and former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh in the Volcker findings, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Nov 29, 2005) charged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government with deliberately taking a faulty route in probing the Iraqi oil scam.

"As no attempt has been made to investigate the money trail, the Justice R S Pathak Inquiry Authority was nothing but a crude attempt to cover up the issue," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said initiating a debate on the Volcker report in the Rajya Sabha.

He warned that without filing an FIR, the Swiss court would not entertain any probe in the matter as in the case of Bofors.

"To crack the Swiss banking secrecy, charges should have been framed on various counts and without which Indian Government would not be able to crack the veil of secrecy of the Swiss authorities to hand over necessary documents on pay-offs," Jaitley said.

Accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of double standards, he said the least the Prime Minister could do was to undertake the correct course of investigation and get rid of his tainted colleague.