The report by an independent committee cleared the ruling Congress party of any wrongdoing, but opposition lawmakers accused the government of selectively leaking the report, instead of releasing it to parliament.

Noisy protests forced both houses of parliament to be suspended.

The investigation was ordered late last year after a UN report said then Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and the ruling Congress were among politicians and groups in several countries given oil vouchers by Iraq that could be sold for a commission.

The oil-for-food programme, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003, aimed to ease the impact on Iraqis of UN sanctions, imposed when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Under the scheme, Iraq was allowed to sell oil in order to buy food, medicine and many other goods.

But an inquiry led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker found the programme was rife with corruption, with companies and government officials around the world involved in kickbacks and bribery in Saddam's efforts to get sanctions lifted.

Singh and Congress both deny any wrongdoing. However, India launched its own investigation in November and Singh quit as minister shortly afterwards after sustained opposition pressure.

Newspapers and TV channels reported on Friday that the inquiry, headed by a retired supreme court judge, had found that Singh and his son Jagat, a state MLA, had misused their positions to get the Iraq contracts.

However, the investigation said no money had been traced to either Singh or Jagat.

Singh said the investigation had vindicated him as it had not found any money trail to him or his son.

"At the time I was neither a minister nor a member of parliament," Singh said referring to the duration of the oil-for-food programme.