Relative of Natwar, his associate recipients

New Delhi, Aug 7: Andaleeb Sehgal, a relative of former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, and his business associate Aditya Khanna were the recipients of the payoff totalling 146,000 dollars (about Rs 68 lakh) in December 2001 under the UN oil-for-food programme for the then Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, according to the Justice R S Pathak Authority.

''For their part, Shri Aditya Khanna and Shri Andaleeb Sehgal received a total sum of USD 146,000 which amounts to about 5 cents per barrel of oil. The entire amount was received in the bank account of INDRUS Trading Company Limited located in Jersey, Channel Islands,'' the Authority said in its 87-page report tabled in Parliament today.

Mr Sehgal, cousin of Mr Natwar Singh's son Jagat Singh, was to get 80 per cent of the payoff, leaving 20 per cent for Mr Khanna.

The two were understood to have jointly floated INDRUS for oil trading with Russia (IND representing India and RUS standing for Russia).

Under the third terms of reference, the Inquiry Authority had been asked to find the beneficiaries of the payoffs in the two oil contracts, under which the Congress party and Mr Natwar Singh were named in the Volcker committee report as non-contractual beneficiaries.

According to the Authority's findings, Mr Khanna, Mr Sehgal, Sehgal Consultants and Hamdan Exports, also owned by Mr Sehgal, were the beneficiaries.

The three-page Action Taken Report on the findings -- which was also tabled along with the report, said the Authority had, however, ''no answer'' to the fourth and fifth terms of references pertaining to ''other aspect'' of the contracts and making ''recommendations.'' The other two terms of references related to the authenticity of the Volcker committee documents and the involvement of the Congress and Mr Natwar Singh.

The report said the documents were genuine, while there was ''no wrong doing'' on the part of the Congress. Mr Natwar Singh was a ''beneficiary in so far that the role played by him in influencing and facilitating the procurement of the contracts had fructified.'' However, there was ''no material'' to show that Mr Natwar Singh ''derived any financial or other personal benefit from the contracts.''

UNI

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