The Indian government's special envoy Virendra Dayal, appointed to look into allegations against Union Minister Natwar Singh and Congress contained in a UN-sponsored report, is expected to meet its author Paul Volcker Friday or Monday.
Dayal arrived in New York Thursday on his fact-finding mission to seek documents and other information from the Volcker committee on the basis of which it named Singh and Congress as non-contractual beneficiaries of payoffs in the Iraqi oil-for-food programme.
The veteran diplomat is expected to have initial discussions with Volcker, chairman of the UN Independent Committee that probed the oil-for-food dealings, "within a day or two. It could even be today," sources said.
Dayal is accompanied by a team of four officials and is later expected to meet the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is scheduled to return early next week from a tour of the Middle East and Pakistan.
Officials at the Indian Mission to the UN were, however, tightlipped about the visit and declined to give any details.
The Volcker committee, in its report, had also named 129 Indian companies, which were alleged to have paid bribes to the Saddam Hussein regime to get contracts for supply of humanitarian items.
A former under-secretary-general of the United Nations, Dayal is familiar with the working of the UN, but all documents are still with the Volcker committee.
In fact, the world body is still negotiating on taking control of the documents on the basis of which the panel had reached its conclusion so that it could cooperate with the governments, which launch criminal investigations against individuals and entities named by the report.
But during a meeting with Indian UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen, Volcker had made it clear that they would not share the documents which had been obtained from the governments or entities on the basis of confidentiality and understanding that they would not be shared with others. In those cases, waiver from the concerned government or entity would be required.
He had told Sen that the committee would share information with only investigating agencies and apparently for that reason, Dayal's delegation includes officials from Enforcement Directorate.
Asked about the prospects of India getting the documents, sources said things might start becoming clearer after Dayal's meeting with Volcker.
Iraq is a party in the negotiations between the world body and committee as it had provided the bulk of the documents.
As fears were expressed that the documents returned to the countries might be lost, American UN Ambassador John Bolton suggested continuation of a small operation of the committee to enable safe custody of the documents. But a final decision is yet to be taken.
Replying to a question, a UN spokesperson said that the world body is finalising arrangements for access by member states and others to the documentation which has been amassed by the committee.
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