New Delhi: Giving a new twist to the Volcker tale, India's Ambassador to Croatia Aneil Mathrani has denied India Today magazine's claims that he 'exposed' Natwar Singh and his son's involvement in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.
On Friday, after a tumultous day in Parliament, the Government recalled Mathrani from Croatia.
Speaking exclusively to IBN from Croatia, Mathrani termed the report as baseless and said his statement was falsified and completely distorted.
However, he refused to comment when asked if he would take any action against the magazine.
He said that he has not named Congress or Union Minister Natwar Singh as recipients of oil vouchers in the Iraq oil-for-food scam.
He denied ever saying that oil vouchers were allotted to the Congress party or Natwar Singh when he led a delegation of the party to Iraq in January 2001.
Mathrani said that this was a complete breach of privacy and his conversation had been totally misrepresented.
He added that whatever he told the magazine about Natwar Singh's visit to Iraq was already public knowledge.
Mathrani, who worked closely with Natwar Singh in the Congress' Foreign Affairs Cell before the party came to power, told the news magazine that both the Congress and Natwar Singh received oil coupons from Saddam's regime.
On Friday, Mathrani's disclosures rocked Parliament as the Opposition demanded the arrest of former external affair minister Natwar Singh and the resignation of Sonia Gandhi from NCA.
Both Houses were forced to adjourn several times on Friday.
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