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New Delhi, Aug 7 (UNI) Giving a clean chit to the Congress in the oil-for-food scam, the Justice R S Pathak Inquiry Authority has held former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh responsible for implicating the ruling party in the payoff charge, but ruled that there was no evidence to show that he derived any financial benefit.

According to the findings of the Inquiry Authority, whose 87-page report and the three-page Finance Ministry's Action Taken Report (ATR), the beneficiaries of the 146,000-dollar (Rs 68 lakh) payoff were Andaleeb Sehgal, a relative of Mr Natwar Singh, and his business associate, Aditya Khanna.

They received the payments through their firms, INDRUS (floated for oil trade between India and Russia), Sehgal Consultants and Hamdan Exports, partly owned by Mr Sehgal.

Accepting the report, the government said in its ATR that the findings would be forwarded ''in its entirety'' to the Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Excise and Customs for further action against those accused of receiving foreign exchange in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The Authority also indicted Mr Natwar Singh and his son, Jagat Singh, for misusing their positions for helping their associates get the oil contracts.

The tabling of the two reports in the two Houses of Parliament were marred by slogan shouting by agitated opposition MPs who demanded an apology or resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, owning responsibility for the leak of the authority's conclusions to a television channel last week.

''Apparently, it (the Congress) has been shown (in the Volcker committee report) as a non-contractual beneficiary because that was the impression created in the minds of the Iraqi authorities by reason of the conduct of Shri Natwar Singh and Shri Jagat Singh and the documents which they employed including the letters written by Shri Natwar Singh to the Iraqi Oil Minister,'' Justice Pathak said in his report.

Mr Natwar Singh had written two letters in 2001 to the then Iraqi Oil Minister, Dr Amer Rasheed, on the official letterhead of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The first letter on January 30 was handed over through Mr Andaleeb Sehgal, cousin of Mr Jagat Singh, and the second on April 26 through Mr Jagat Singh.

According to the report, these letters showed that Mr Natwar Singh had met the Iraqi Oil Minister on January 22, 2001 along with Mr Sehgal and ''demonstrates'' that he utilised his presence in Iraq not merely for the purpose of representing the Congress Party in a goodwill mission ''but also took the opportunity of lending his assistance in the procurement of the oil allocation to Shri Andaleeb Sehgal who accompanied him on the visit to the Oil Minister.'' ''The Inquiry Authority...etc etc Editors: Pl pick up from para one of PAR 16, POLITICS-SECOND LEAD PATHAK AUTHORITY-ATR TWO LS/RS.

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