Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The appointment of Shri Virender Dayal, former Under-Secretary of the United Nations to collect all the facts and information regarding the references to India in the Volcker Inquiry Committee is a necessary step. The appointment of Justice R.S. Pathak to look into the payments and related matters is also required. The CPI(M) had wanted an enquiry into the Volcker Committee findings to ascertain the actual facts after going through the evidence. The inquiry should unravel the truth behind the naming of the Congress party and Natwar Singh in the annexure of the report as being “non-contractual beneficiaries”.
The Volcker Committee report cannot be taken as final and conclusive. The Committee was set up under pressure of vicious attacks by the rightwing circles in the United States against the United Nations for undertaking the Oil for Food Programme in Iraq. These circumstances must be kept in mind, when considering the Volcker Committee’s report.
The Polit Bureau condemns the BJP and the rightwing media for toeing the American line of maligning the struggle of the Iraqi people against the unjust sanctions imposed on them. These apologists for the US do not have a word to say in condemnation of the brazen loot indulged in by the US companies in occupied Iraq which is a scandal of massive proportions.