India ex-FM suspended from party

Mr Singh has accused the PM of leaking the report

India's ruling Congress Party has suspended a former foreign minister over findings about his role in the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

A judicial report made public on Monday said Natwar Singh had helped close contacts procure oil contracts, but had not benefited personally.

The party said Mr Singh had been given two weeks to explain why it should not expel him, as a political row grew.

Mr Singh denies wrongdoing and has said he is being made a scapegoat.

In response the announcement, he declared that he was ready for a "decisive battle", the Press Trust of India reported.

"I am a man of strong nerves. I won't take things lying down," he was quoted as saying.

Report leaked

Mr Singh was named in a UN report in October 2005 into the corruption-ridden programme used to allow Saddam Hussein's regime to trade oil for humanitarian supplies.

He was removed from his post as India's foreign minister in November, pending an official inquiry by a retired Indian judge.

The report from the inquiry says both a relative of Mr Singh and a friend of his family were illegal beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme.

It says he had helped facilitate and influence the procurement of oil contracts.

Mr Singh has accused the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of leaking the report to the media last week.

Backed by opposition MPs, he has called on the Indian parliament to censure the prime minister.

The report also exonerates the ruling Congress party, which had also been named alongside Mr Singh.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that while the Congress party-led government is relieved that the report absolves the party of any wrongdoing, the move by a former cabinet minister is a major embarrassment.

The UN report, written by former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, said more than 2,000 firms made illegal payments to Saddam Hussein's government.

Under the UN programme, Saddam Hussein's government could sell oil as long as the proceeds were used to buy humanitarian goods.