Volcker: Natwar a national disappointment, says BJP

Taking a dig at the PM, Jaitley said rather than live up to expectation that he would be a Mr Clean, Manmohan Singh ‘‘has only ended up giving clean chits to the tainted.’’

This, Jaitley said, ‘‘is the continuation of a policy followed by the Prime Minister in the last few months and included giving clean chits to tainted ministers, to the Bihar Governor, to the Jharkhand Governor, and condoning the absconding of ministers.”

Accusing the Prime Minister of constituting himself ‘‘as a kangaroo court’’, Jaitley said, ‘‘Without investigating (the charges) or caring about its political and diplomatic consequences, he gave a pre-determined decision.’’

On Natwar Singh’s statement that he was being framed because of his opposition to US sanctions against Iraq, Jaitley said the two were not connected. ‘‘That stand is a matter of ideology. But did that stand become an office of profit? The Volcker report makes it clear that it did,’’ Jaitley said, demanding that Singh come clean on his own involvement as well as that of his relatives and associates.

The BJP leader also criticised the Left parties for trying ‘‘to pour cold water’’ on the controversy by questioning the motives of the Volker report. “The allegations of KGB payoffs to Left and Congress leaders made in the Mitrokhin archives and the revelations in the Volcker report only showed that despite their opposition to FDI in Indian economy, the Left and Congress are one at least on the issue of FDI in politics,’’ Jaitley said.

Jaitley said the BJP would raise it everywhere—through the media, at public rallies, inside Parliament and on streets across the country.

Russia questions report

MOSCOW: Russia has questioned the authenticity of the report of the Paul Volcker Committee which investigated kickbacks under the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that most documents received by Russia from the Volcker Committee during the programme were forged. He said Russian experts had questioned the committee because ‘‘documents that were shown to us had forged signatures of Russian officials’’.

The report says Russian companies received about one-third proceeds of oil sales, amounting to $19 billion and names former Kremlin Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin and ultra nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky as individual beneficiaries.

Voloshin is the chairman of the Russian energy monopoly, the United Energy System (UES). —Dadan Upadhaya