Oil-for-food scam: Supreme Court dismisses Natwar Singh's plea

New Delhi, Oct 5 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petitions filed by former Union Minister Natwar Singh seeking supply of documents of Volcker and R S Pathak Committees which had probed his alleged role in Iraq oil-for-food scam.

A bench comprising Justices B Sudarshan Reddy and S S Nijjar said the petitions seeking documents are delaying tactics on the part of Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh.

The bench ordered for the expeditious disposal of the proceedings before the Enforcement Directorate (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.

Earlier, 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 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 scam led to the ouster of Natwar Singh from the Cabinet in 2004 for his alleged role.

The Paul Volcker Committee was set up by the United Nations in April 2004 to probe corruption and fraud in its oil-for-food programme in Iraq, in which Singh's name allegedly figured as a beneficiary. (ANI)