The Indian government on Monday ordered a judicial investigation into allegations that the country's foreign minister and the ruling party benefited from the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq. The move came a day after the government named an envoy to investigate the credibility of a U.N. report that made the allegations against Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and his Congress party. The judicial probe will be headed by R.S. Pathak, a former chief justice of India and a former judge of the International Court of Justice, spokesman Sanjaya Baruin the Prime Minister's Office, told reporters. Natwar Singh is among the more than 2,200 companies and prominent politicians worldwide accused in the report of the U.N.'s Independent Inquiry Committee of colluding with Saddam Hussein's regime to bilk the humanitarian oil-for-food program of US$1.8 billion (¤1.5 billion) in kickbacks and illicit surcharges. The independent inquiry was headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Baru said Pathak will "head the inquiry into matters relating to the report of the Independent Inquiry Committee." No time frame has been set for the investigation, he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
