SC dismisses Natwar Singh’s plea on oil-for-food scam

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh, seeking all documents that the directorate of enforcement relied upon to issue him a show cause in the oil-for-food programme scam.

The apex court bench, headed by Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, said the former foreign minister was obstructing the completion of investigation.

The Suprme Court, in its earlier order in July, also dismissed the Enforcement Directorate plea seeking exemption from production before the Central Information Commission the documents related to investigations into the scam.

The Commission had directed the ED to produce the file of the probe into the scam for its perusal to decide on its disclosure under the RTI Act.

The scam led to the ouster of former External Affairs Minister 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 also allegedly figured as a beneficiary.