PM says ED to probe Mathrani's claims

Facing mounting Opposition attack on the Volcker issue in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the Enforcement Directorate will take cognizance of the recent statements on pay offs in Iraqi oil deals attributed to India's envoy to Croatia Anil Mathrani and asserted that no one who was guilty will go unpunished.

Mathrani, who had worked closely with Natwar Singh in the All India Congress Committee Foreign Affairs Cell before Congress came to power, had claimed in an interview to a television news channel that the former external affairs minister had received oil allotment from Saddam Hussein's regime.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister said, "Statements (by Mathrani) have been made about Natwar Singh and other individuals. These are all a matter of concern".

"The Enforcement Directorate will take cognizance of the recent statements attributed to the Indian Ambassador to Croatia and pursue its investigations," he added.

Dr Singh said, "As for the statements made, which I am told are likely to be published in a magazine later, they certainly relate to the transactions under investigation."

He said the ED has assured the government that its investigations were proceeding on the right track and it would be able to establish the facts expeditiously.

"We should not pre-judge the final outcome of the investigation or pre-empt the findings that may be given by the Justice R S Pathak Inquiry Authority," he said, emphasising that for the government, truth was of utmost importance.

"We are determined that truth must prevail in this matter," he added.

Asserting that his government believed in maintaining high standards of probity and transparency in public life, the prime minister said, "I can assure the House that no one who is guilty will go unpunished."

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