'125 Indian companies made illegal payments to Saddam'

Over 125 Indian companies are among 2,000 firms worldwide who made illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's regime for contracts in the United Nation's Oil-for-Food progrmme, an independent inquiry into the controversial deal said in New York Thursday.

The companies supply diverse products including food, medicines, electrical goods, steel and tea. But most of the other companies involved are American, Russian and Chinese.

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The inquiry committee headed by former American Reserve chairman Paul Volcker said Hussein received only about $1.8 billion from "manipulation of transactions" under the oil for food programme, which the panel investigated. But he received much more -- an estimated $11 billion from smuggling oil to Jordan and other neighbouring countries, which was known to the Security Council.

However, the United Nations Security Council chose to ignore it as the beneficiaries were friends of some of the permanent members of the council, including the United States, it said.