NEW DELHI (AP) – India’s foreign minister became the first political casualty of the UN oil-for-food scandal, stripped of his post yesterday over allegations in an independent report that he profited from massive corruption in the effort to help Iraqis suffering under sanctions.

The accusation that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh was among the thousands of prominent companies and politicians worldwide to illegally benefit from the programme has roiled India for days and led to widespread calls that he step down.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on yesterday summoned Natwar Singh for an hour long meeting at his residence and demoted him to minister without portfolio, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

He had initially rejected calls for his resignation, insisting that he received no favours or bribes from Saddam Hussein’s government, or benefited from the US$64 billion oil-for-food programme.

The independent inquiry, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, has accused more than 2,200 companies and prominent politicians worldwide of colluding with Saddam’s regime to bilk the oil-for-food programme of US$1.8 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges.

It named Singh and the ruling Congress party as a “non-contractual beneficiary” in a report released two weeks ago.

Benon Sevan, the programme’s executive director is being investigated for allegedly accepting kickbacks and French judges are investigating 10 French officials, including former UN ambassador Jean-Bernard Merimee, and business leaders under suspicion. But Singh’s demotion was the first government action taken against an acting official since the independent report was released.

In the meantime, the prime minister will temporarily hold the foreign minister’s portfolio.

“The Indian external affairs minister met the prime minister and requested to be relieved of the external affairs portfolio,” Manmohan Singh’s office said. “The prime minister has accepted his request and … Natwar Singh will be minister without portfolio.

The oil-for-food programme allowed Iraq to sell limited and then unlimited quantities of oil, as long as most of the money was used to buy humanitarian goods to help ordinary Iraqis cope with UN sanctions imposed after Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Saddam’s government chose all the oil buyers and goods suppliers.