Enforcement Directorate questions Hamdaan director

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Last updated on: November 06, 2005 20:47 IST

Enforcement Directorate questioned Hamdaan Export Director Andleep Sehgal, whose name has appeared among the beneficiaries of Iraq's oil for food programme in the UN-sponsored Volcker committee report, on Sunday.

An ED team went to the residence of Sehgal, a friend of External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh's son Jagat Singh, to question him on the issue.

The ED is understood to have questioned him about the company's business interests in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime and whether it had clearances under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in view of the report saying that it was a non-contractual beneficiary in the payoffs from the Oil-for-food programme, sources said.

The ED had pasted a notice at the gate of Sehgal's house on Saturday night asking him to present himself for interrogation.

Natwar had on Saturday said that his family had no business with Sehgal, who owns Hamdaan Exports, the firm on whose behalf Swiss company Masefield AG is reported to have lifted oil barrels under allotments to Congress and Natwar Singh during the Saddam Hussein regime in 2001.

He said, "Sehgal is a friend of my son. He is married to somebody who is related to us."

Jagat Singh had on Saturday said that Sehgal was his acquaintance but had nothing to do with his business dealings.

Meanwhile hectic parleys continued in New Delhi over the Volcker report.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held high level consultations with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior union ministers to discuss the fallout of the Volcker Committee report.

The over hour-long meeting was attended by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and Political Secretary to the Congress President Ahmed Patel.

Complete Coverage: The Volcker Report

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