NEW DELHI, Aug 8: India’s former foreign minister Natwar Singh was suspended from the ruling Congress party on Tuesday after a leaked inquiry report found him guilty of misconduct in a UN oil-for-food scam in Iraq.
The party suspended Singh after a 90-minute meeting by its disciplinary committee, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
Congress asked Singh to show cause why he should not be expelled for abusing his position to procure oil contracts under the Saddam Hussein regime, it said.
The 110-page report by retired chief judge R.S. Patak was introduced in parliament’s lower house by the Congress Party-led government Monday after it was leaked last week.
Singh was removed from the post of foreign minister last November pending Pathak’s inquiry into a UN report which linked him to vouchers given by Iraq to buy cut-rate oil. He rejected the report that accuses him and his son.
He remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio until December.—AFP
