File photo of a Rafale airplane | PTI
A report by a French media company has rekindled the political debate over the purchase of French-made Rafale aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
On September 23, 2016, the Indian government signed a contract with the French government and Dassault Aviation for the procurement of 36 Rafale jets. This deal was preceded by a failed attempt to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) under the UPA regime.
The French investigative journal Mediapart has now made new claims that “false invoices” were used by the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros (over 64 billion rupees) to a “middleman” to secure the procurement deal with India.
The alleged “kickbacks” were paid to the “middleman” in Mauritius between 2007 and 2012, Mediapart reported. It is important to note that the Congress-led UPA was in power from 2004 to 2014.
In April 2015, Prime Minister Modi announced the Indian government’s decision to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets. This was a year after the Department of Defense (MoD) withdrew the 126 aircraft contract signed between Dassault Aviation and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
File photo of IAF pilots boarding a Rafale jet | PTI
A Supreme Court bank run by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi opened petitions against the procurement of Rafale aircraft in 2018 and found no inappropriateness. In 2019, the Apex Court withheld its order on pleas brought against its 2018 ruling in the Rafale case.
However, in July of that year the French appointed a judge who was a “highly sensitive” judicial investigation in alleged “corruption and favoritism” in the Rafale fighter jet deal of Rs 59,000 crore with India.
Here are 5 latest additions to the Rafale range:
1. In response to the Mediapart report, BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said Tuesday that the Indian National Congress, whose initials are “INC”, should be referred to as the “I Need Commission”.
2. Patra said that Janpath, the official residence of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, was the “address to corruption” until the NDA came to power in 2014, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a corruption case.
3. Earlier, Congress spokesman Pawan Khera held a press conference calling for the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the Rafale deal. Khera accused the ruling BJP of trying to “cover up” corruption in the procurement deal signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term.
4th Rahul Gandhi, who is currently out of the country, said in a tweet on Tuesday: “If the truth is with you every step of the way, what is there to fear? My fellow Congressmen – keep fighting the corrupt central government. Don’t stop, don’t get tired, don’t be afraid, “said Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi under the hashtag” #RafaleScam “.
5. Neither the Ministry of Defense (MoD) nor Dassault Aviation responded to Mediapart’s findings.
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