The United Nations has acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the lawyers of the India's Congress party regarding the allegations made by the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volcker against the ruling party as a beneficiary of Iraqi oil payoffs.
"A letter had been received Tuesday evening by the Executive Office of the secretary-general from the lawyers of the Congress party. The letter was being forwarded to the Volcker Committee," a spokesperson for Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday.
The Congress party, heading the ruling coalition, sent the letter to Annan seeking documents on the basis of which the IIC named in its 600-odd-page report the party as a beneficiary of Iraqi oil payoffs as well as other clarifications.
Regarding reported comments by Under-Secretary-General for Public Information Shashi Tharoor, who is said to have dismissed the Volcker report, the spokesperson said she had been in touch with Tharoor, who was on leave in India.
"He denied dismissing the Volcker report," the spokesperson said.
She directed all questions regarding India's complaints about the IIC Committee to the Volcker Committee itself, which will be around for about a month.