Money trail throws up murky details

New Delhi: The Volcker jigsaw is slowly, but surely falling into place and murkier details about the multi-crore Iraq oil-for-food scam are emerging.

As Indian government's special envoy Virendra Dayal to US brings back all essential documents from the Volcker Committee, skeletons are tumbling out of the closet.

The key players

One of them is Zamil Saidi, a businessman who, many believe, might hold the key to the oil-for-food scam.

Saidi worked as a go-between for the parties interested in procuring oil coupons from the Saddam regime in the Iraq oil-for-food programme.

He also worked for a South Korean company called United Commodities which has been blacklisted in a CIA report for having liasions with the Saddam regime.

He was approached by former external affairs minister Natwar Singh?s son Jagat Singh who wanted to procure the oil coupons from Iraq.

Saidi set the ball rolling when he put Jagat in touch with Iraqi Embassy in New Delhi.

After the initial sequence of events were put in place, Jagat kept meeting Saidi in Iraq and Jordan, where furthered their business deal.

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Saidi was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate when his name came up in the CIA report.

Another missing link in the scam is Asad Khan, a friend and a partner of Andaleeb Sehgal who accompanied him to meet senior Iraqi government officials in Baghdad.

Khan, who also met the then Indian ambassador in Iraq R Dayakar, was summonned by the Enforcement Directorate.

The modus operandi

When the Enforcement Directorate's three prized catches - Khan, Saidi and Sehgal started giving an account of how the business was conducted, a startling picture emerged.

After Saidi put the Jagat Singh and Andaleeb Sehgal in touch with the key people in Saddam hussain?s regime, Andleeb and Asad went to collect oil coupons from Saddam aided by Dayakar.

Another person emerging from the scandal is Aditya Khanna, a London-based businessman whose family ties with Natwar Singh go deep, sealed the deal with masefield AG in Switzerland.

Khanna provided the money for the oil deal. The money, nearly Rs 9 crores for 1,900 barrels of oil, allegedly came through him, via hawala channels and distributed mainly among Jagat, Andleeb and Asad.

According to Said, the money was immediately invested by Jagat in Punjab Liquors but he's refusing to reveal whether he got a commission for the deal.

But with the Volcker Report details coming home it will be difficult to remain silent for long.