Natwar Singh's plea dismissed in oil-for-food scam

The Supreme Court today dismissed the petitions filed by former Union minister Natwar Singh and his son seeking supply of documents of Volcker and R S Pathak Committees which had probed their alleged role in Iraq's oil-for-food scam.

A bench comprising Justice B Sudarshan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar said the petitions seeking documents are delaying tactics on the part of the former Congress leader and his son Jagat Singh.

The petitions are an attempt to obstruct the proceedings in the case before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the bench said.

The bench ordered for the expeditious disposal of the proceedings before the ED and said that no adjournments should be given on unreasonable grounds.

They had filed an appeal against a Delhi high court decision rejecting their plea.

The high court had dismissed the petition of the former external affairs minister and his son — embroiled in Iraq's oil-for-food scam — for direction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to provide them with all documents related to the scam.

The court had said it is not illegal on the part of the government not to provide them all the documents.

The ED was inquiring into the benefits allegedly derived by the Indians in the scam, which was exposed by the UN's Volcker Committee report.

It was alleged that the suspects had earned a commission by selling petroleum products given on voucher by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein under the UN's oil-for-food programme between 1996 and 2003.