New Delhi: Hours after the Pathak Inquiry Authority submitted its report indicting the former External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, for procuring contracts in Iraq's oil-for-food programme, the Government on Thursday said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would take "appropriate" action in the matter.

This was stated by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram at a press conference after a meeting of the Cabinet.

Asked to comment on allegations levelled by Mr. Natwar Singh's son, Jagat Singh, that the ED was acting at his behest, Mr. Chidambaram shot back: "Do you believe that?"

He said the ED, departing from its normal practice, had issued a release denying allegations levelled by Mr. Jagat Singh against the Finance Minister.

Mr. Chidambaram said that the ED had clearly stated its stand.

"Normally, the Enforcement Directorate does not respond. However, in this case, since the allegations have been made earlier and repeated again, denying the allegations, the ED has categorically stated that all investigations into the Volcker Committee's report on the oil-for-food programme, have been conducted strictly in accordance with the law, uninfluenced by any person or any extraneous factors," an ED statement had said.

We'll study report, take action: Congress

Relieved at its exoneration by Justice Pathak in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam, the Congress on Thursday night prepared to distance itself further from Mr. Natwar Singh.

Immediately after the media reported the findings of the Pathak Authority, which, however, have not been made public, party president Sonia Gandhi summoned her top aides Motilal Vora, Ahmed Patel and Janardhan Dwivedi to discuss it.

Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "The report is there for anyone to see. It is a very high- powered commission chaired by a former Chief Justice of India which went into the facts and records and said what it has to say." As far as individuals are concerned, he remarked, "Let us wait to study the report and then decide on the individual course of action."

The Bharatiya Janata Party said the Authority's indictment of Mr. Natwar Singh appeared to be an "attempt to bail out" the Congress, which was named in the Volcker Report.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V.K. Malhotra said his party his party believed that the Authority has made Mr. Natwar Singh a "scapegoat" while giving a clean chit to the Congress.

"Right from the beginning, we have been demanding a CBI inquiry into the whole issue because an Authority like Justice Pathak's can have no powers to carry out investigation involving international crimes of this nature," he said.

He objected to the "deliberate leak" to the media of the Authority's report before its presentation in Parliament. "We will raise these objections forcefully. Our leaders will also meet tomorrow [Friday] to work out their response to this report which appears to be an attempt to bail out the ruling party," he added. — PTI

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