Oil-for-food scam: Aniel Matherani quizzed

NEW DELHI: India's former Ambassador to Croatia Aniel Matherani was on Monday quizzed by the Pathak Inquiry Authority about his alleged role in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal.

Matherani, who was part of a four-member delegation led by former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh which visited Iraq in January 2001, was questioned for almost two hours by the panel probing the role of Natwar Singh and others named as non-contractual beneficiaries in the UN-appointed Volcker Committee report.

The former envoy to Croatia has created a political storm by purportedly saying in an interview to an Indian weekly that Natwar was involved in getting oil vouchers for himself and Congress party from the then Iraqi government headed by Saddam Hussein.