PICTURE SPEAK

LIABILITY: Natwar (left) was shown the door by Manmohan Natwar's visit to Baghdad in 2001 as head of a Congress delegation along with Jagat and Matherani is under the scanner.

Incredibly, when the Paul Volcker Commission report was made public in New York late on October 29, no one from the External Affairs Ministry briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his foreign minister figured on the list of those named in the oil-for-food scam. Manmohan would read about it from the daily newspapers early next morning on the flight to Agartala where he was to inaugurate an ONGC gas-based plant, among other things. Only his private secretary had the good sense to download the tables from the commission's website that had K. Natwar Singh's name listed as a "non-contractual beneficiary" and show it to his boss. It would be this inexplicable lack of information that would enable Natwar to rail and rally through a deepening scandal till he was forced to submit his resignation on November 7. During that critical week, not just the image of the UPA Government but that of the Congress took a severe battering.

THE INQUISITORS

R.S. PATHAK: The 81-year-old former chief justice of India, who also served as a judge at the International Court of Justice, will head the judicial inquiry. VIRENDER DAYAL: The former UN under secretary-general will lead a fact finding mission and liaise with the UN and foreign countries.

With two probes being announced to go into the affair-a judicial probe headed by former chief justice of India R.S. Pathak and a fact-finding mission by Virender Dayal, a former diplomat-Manmohan says his Government "is determined to go to the root of the matter and establish the truth or otherwise of these references". The Opposition has now shifted its focus to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, with NDA convener George Fernandes saying, "The Congress is also named as a beneficiary in the report. If Natwar Singh deserved to be deprived of his portfolio, surely Sonia Gandhi cannot hold on to her responsibilities currently supported by the public exchequer.'' The Opposition now plans to create mayhem over the issue when Parliament convenes on November 23.

Meanwhile, an India Today investigation into the sordid affair indicates that it is not going to be easy for either Natwar or the Congress to wiggle out of the mess (see graphic). It also points to why Natwar had to be relieved of his portfolio as foreign minister. A clear pattern emerges from the dates of visits of those involved, contract letters for allotment of oil barrels and payments made for delivery. There are just too many coincidences which can't be dismissed as just that.

It now emerges that on January 17, 2001, the Congress, which was in the Opposition, sent a delegation to Iraq comprising Natwar, who was chairman of its Foreign Affairs Cell, and former Union ministers A.R. Antulay and P. Shiv Shankar. Aniel Matherani, a secretary of the cell, and surprisingly Jagat, Natwar's son, also accompanied them on this trip. Jagat told India Today that he had gone as a Youth Congress functionary. But Vidya Bhushan, the then chairman of the Youth Congress Foreign Cell, says no delegation of the Youth Congress had gone to Iraq nor was Jagat sent to that country on its behalf.

PICTURE SPEAK

VOLCKER: Questions are being raised about how thorough he was In all, the beneficiaries of the two Indian deals could have earned close to Rs 15 crore for just being intermediaries.

As there was no direct flight to Iraq they had to fly via Amman. They spent a day in Amman where the Indian ambassador H.C.S. Dhody hosted a reception for them in the evening. Among the guests was Andaleeb Sehgal, who had flown in from Dubai. On January 19, the delegates took a charter flight operated by Jordan's Royal Wings to Baghdad. Sehgal was also on the flight and they all checked into the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. The Indian envoy to Iraq, R. Dayakar, hosted a reception for them the same evening. The next day the delegation met Iraqi vice-president Taha Yasin Ramadan and handed over a letter from Sonia, the Congress chief, expressing solidarity with Iraq. Also present at the meeting were Jagat and Sehgal. The same day they met deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz and minister of trade Saleh Mehdi with both Jagat and Sehgal tagging along.

On January 20, Natwar, Antulay and Shiv Shankar visited Karbala and Najaf. But Matherani, Jagat and Sehgal stayed back and met Mehdi again and also oil minister Amer Rashid. They are said to have requested Mehdi to let Sehgal's company Hamdan Exports register for doing business with Iraq. Sources close to Sehgal confirm that Hamdan registered itself at the Iraqi Grain Board effective from January 30, 2001, to supply wheat. Matherani denies that he went separately with Jagat and Sehgal, saying, "I don't know what they were doing." However, he confirms that Sehgal and Jagat were together in Iraq at Al Rashid at that time. This put paid to Jagat's earlier claim that he and Sehgal were never in Iraq at the same time.

The delegation then returned to Amman by road on January 24 because the charter flight was delayed. While Jagat and Sehgal stayed on in the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman, the delegation returned to Delhi. Three weeks later, on February 17, Sehgal went to Jordan again via Dubai. Sources close to him claim that all his subsequent visits were to follow up on the wheat tenders. The fact remains, though, that Sehgal was never awarded a wheat tender by the Iraqi government. But the Volcker Report shows Sehgal having first deposited what seems to be an advance surcharge of $60,000 (Rs 27 lakh) for a deal to lift two million barrels using Masefield AG, a Swiss oil trading company, on March 13, 2001, at the Jordan National Bank. Sehgal denies paying this deposit and says that he was in India on that day, adding, "I am not aware where this Jordan National Bank is located."

Yet there are some curious coincidences. The Volcker Report states that two allotments of two million barrels each were made to Natwar. The contract numbers for these allotments are M/09/120 and M/09/54. An M9 allotment indicates that this was to be executed in the ninth phase of the oil-for-food programme between December 2000 and June 2001. The period coincides with Natwar's visit. The March 13 deposit made by Sehgal as surcharge is for contract number M/09/54-one of the two contracts allotted to Natwar. On May 27, 2001, Hamdan is shown by the report as making a further deposit of surcharge of $438,518 to the Jordan National Bank as full payment for lifting 1,935,892 barrels of oil. The surcharge at that time was 25 cents per barrel which went into the coffers of the Iraqi government and is considered illicit collection by the Volcker Report.

ANDY'S STORY

Even as Enforcement Directorate officials raid his office and residence, Jagat Singh's childhood pal Andaleeb Sehgal debunks the allegations in the Volcker Report   PICTURE SPEAK SHARING THE CONTROVERSY: Sehgal (above); Jagat (below) Andaleeb Sehgal and Jagat Singh have more in common than their hairstyles, courtesy a recent trip to Tirupathi. Soon after the Volcker Commission Report linking Sehgal and his firm Hamdan Exports to the oil contracts involving Natwar Singh and the Congress, he became hot property. Wary of the media glare, the 36-year-old Sehgal left for Kasauli only to return last week after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) pasted notices on his south Delhi residence. Before he left for Delhi, a friend warned Sehgal not to make any categorical statement unless he was sure of the facts. Hours after he reached the capital, Sehgal was on TV debunking the Volcker Report. However, he did not hide his friendship with Jagat, adding that there were no commercial dealings between the two. The two are childhood friends despite having studied in different schools. Jagat went to the Doon School while Sehgal studied at Lawrence School, Sanawar. Later, Sehgal, a St Stephen's graduate, married Jagat's cousin Suhani Kumari from the Himachal Pradesh-based Nalagarh royal family in 1996. It's the public school network that works for Sehgal. His family says he set up Hamdan Exports around 1993 along with Vikas Dhar, a senior from school who is also well connected in Congress circles. The firm exports commodities like rice, wheat and tea. "I have never touched a barrel of oil," says Sehgal-let alone 2.9 million barrels. Hamdan doesn't seem to have got many contracts of late. According to sources, the firm's books show zero turnover for the last five years. Sehgal's family says this is because he has not conducted much business during this time. This includes a failed attempt to supply wheat to Iraq in 2001. On January 30, 2001, Hamdan was registered with the Grain Board of Iraq. Sehgal made several follow-up trips after the January 2001 visit to pursue contracts for exporting wheat. He says that none of these trips were arranged by Jagat. The Volcker Report alleges that Hamdan deposited a total of $748,540 as surcharge in the Jordan National Bank. Sehgal denies this saying that he is "not even aware where this Jordan National Bank is located". He also denies travelling to Iraq or Jordan during the dates mentioned in the report. Family sources claim that Sehgal's bank documents, currently with the ed, show no such transaction in favour of the Jordan National Bank. Sehgal banks with HSBC and Canara Bank in Delhi. In the past week, Sehgal's houses have been raided, his parents' cupboards searched and even personal documents scrutinised. Suddenly his rarefied world of vacationing in family heritage resorts, working out at a five-star gym in Lutyens' Delhi and networking with Congress dynasts have become a free-for-all. In an emotional moment, his father Suman Sehgal told India Today, "I have a few achievements in my life. One of them is my son Andaleeb." Now the world seems to be crumbling around them. - By Priya Sahgal

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