New Delhi: Distancing itself from the Volcker controversy, Government on Tuesday said Natwar Singh and his son were the only members of the Congress found involved in Iraq's oil-for-food contracts and the party had no knowledge of the deal.
Intervening in a debate on the report of Justice Pathak Authority in the Lok Sabha, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal forcefully argued that no one from the Congress other than Natwar Singh knew about the deal.
Sibal's intervention came after Maneka Gandhi, BJP, contended that the Congress leadership was fully in the loop on the deal and this had been confirmed by Natwar Singh.
There were repeated heated verbal exchanges between Maneka and Sibal and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The two ministers contested each and every point which Maneka sought to raise outside the purview of the Pathak report.
UPA ally CPI(M) questioned why the Authority did not investigate Reliance Petroleum Company and other entities named in the Volcker report and BJP sought to know how the Congress was exonerated by the Pathak inquiry.
Describing it as a "sad day" for the Congress party, Sibal said Natwar Singh, who led a goodwill delegation of Congress to Iraq, used his position to benefit his son and others.
He said the Pathak inquiry had concluded that no involvement of Congress, except for Natwar Singh and his son, has been found in the trail of money or signing of contracts for oil.
Sibal alleged that Natwar and three others had got together to hatch a plan under which he signed three letters recommending his son and Delhi-based businessman Andaleeb Sehgal to Iraqi authorities.
Alleging that Natwar Singh knew about the facts, Sibal said the former minister had not revealed anything to the Congress party. When facts were shown to him, he was contradictory.
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