Natwar questions action, says he was given “clean chit” by Pathak.
NEW DELHI: Nearly a month after the RS Pathak Inquiry Authority indicted former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh and his son Jagat in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal, the Enforcement Directorate has issued show-cause notices to them and four others for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Authority (FEMA) Act.
Capping its 10-month inquiry into the alleged kickbacks to Indian entities in the oil-for-food scandal, the directorate served the notices on Natwar and Jagat Singh, Jagat’s cousin Andaleeb Sehgal and his partner Aditya Khanna, Asad Khan, son of a senior Congress leader, and the Andaleeb-owned Hamdan Exports Limited. They have all been asked to reply to the notices by September 14, official sources said.
The notice was delivered to Singh and Jagat at their residence in Delhi late on Saturday night when the former minister was away in Rajasthan visiting his constituency.
Reacting to the notice, Natwar Singh said it was “unfortunate”. He said it was ironic that “while the Pathak Authority has given me a clean chit, a department of the central government is all set to defame and harass me.”
While the Pathak Authority has not been able to trace any transactions to either Natwar Singh or his son, ED sources claim that the trail leads to Jagat Singh. It has secured documents from London and Jordan in this connection. Jagat has always denied that he received any payment.
Natwar Singh was suspended from the Congress on August 8.
