Barely hours after Foreign Minister Natwar Singh went on the offensive, slamming the Volcker report first in a TV interview and then at rallies in his home state, the Government signalled that it was taking serious note of the report naming the Minister and the Congress party as beneficiaries: Security agencies this evening issued a “Look Out Circular” against Andaleeb Sehgal, close friend of Natwar’s son Jagat Singh. This circular is meant to ensure that Sehgal doesn’t slip out of the country. All efforts to trace him have been launched with airports and railway stations alerted by the government. Sehgal and his firm Hamdan Exports are the ones named in the Volcker report as having paid $748,540 (Rs 3.22 crore) into the Jordan National Bank as “illegal surcharge” payments that finally reached the Saddam regime. These payments were made on behalf of Masefield against oil rights allotted to Natwar Singh and the Congress party, as per the Volcker report. An investigation by The Indian Express also shows that Sehgal’s Hamdan Exports currently does not have an import-export code issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade. The firm, with its south Delhi Panchsheel Enclave address, was last known to be in the list of exporters for de-registration by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA). This has given reason for enforcement agencies to suspect that Hamdan may be a “shell company.” The Indian Express investigation has already reported how on one occasion, Jagat Singh flew to Jordan just a day after Sehgal did—and within weeks of the “illegal” payoffs. In his interview to NDTV 24 X 7, Natwar Singh said he “dismissed” the Volcker report and claimed the full support of Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister. While he said he was “surprised” over his party’s decision to send a legal notice to the UN, he clearly reached out for Left support praising Left leaders, echoing their rhetoric on the US invasion of Iraq and, bizarrely, even the “tragic” break-up of the Soviet Union.
