NEW DELHI: The government prima facie rejected the possibility of kickbacks of $30 million in the supply of Russian crude oil to India and said that there was no reason to launch an inquiry, Minister of State for Petroleum Satish Sharma responding to persistent demand from the Opposition members for a probe into the alleged kickbacks said in the Lok Sabha last week that “prima facie, the purported payment of S30 million was not feasible under the intra governmental arrangements,” Opposition members led by Rabi Ray (Janata Dal), Madan Lal Khurana and B.C.Khanduri (BSP) charged that the minister was evading a direct answer and Was merely repeating himself, “This is masterly digression,” Khanduri said objecting to Sharma’s answers.

Rabi Ray pointed out that the Russian Deputy Prime Minister had said in the Russian parliament that the person concerned with the crude oil deal had been removed from the Trade Ministry Saifuddin Chowdhary (CPIM) recalled that when the Bofors revelations came up, even the Swedish Government had launched an inguiry of its own.

“Bribe giving and bribe king are both bad,” he said. His pointed query on whether India had imported the crude oil from’ the Russian government or Private Supplier went unanswered.

Sharma’s defence was that since India had received only $27.38 million worth of crude oil from Russia the paymentof$30 million was not feasible. The timing of the accusation is to be seen in the context of the recent referendum in Russia, the minister said without elaborating. Besides, he wanted those members demanding probe into the kickbacks to bear in mind that.” “Russia was a friendly county. The factual position was that the Russian Government was inquiring into the accusations and that Inuit would’ be pleased to help, if the need arose.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 21, 1993