A French anti-corruption NGO has filed a complaint with their country’s Financial Prosecutor’s Office seeking an investigation into the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal, signed between India and France.
The Rafale deal was announced in September, 2016 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks in Paris with the then French president, Francois Hollande. India signed an agreement with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as part of the upgrading process of the Indian Air Force equipment. The estimated cost of the deal is Rs 58,000 crore.
Hollande sparked off a controversy when he, in an interview, said that France had no role in the selection of Anil Ambani’s company, Reliance Defence, for the offset clause. This deal with France has turned into a political row in India ever since, with the Opposition accusing the Centre of corruption and crony capitalism.
The complaint was filed by Sherpa, an NGO which fights against corruption and money laundering, in October, French newsportal Mediapart reported on Friday.
The complaint cites it follows the allegations by a former minister and an anti-corruption lawyer to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, for ‘abuse of authority’ and ‘grant of undue advantages’ in connection with the sale of Rafale, and the facts revealed by Mediapart and Sherpa’s investigation.
The NGO further said it expected the National Public Prosecutor’s Office to promptly investigate the seriousness of the facts and the presumptions on the reported offences, besides highlighting potential acts of corruption and money laundering by the Government of France and Dassault Aviation.
Sherpa has also sought a probe into the choice of Dassault’s Indian offset partner, Anil Ambani’s Reliance group. The NGO says Reliance had no experience in the manufacture of fighter jets and was only registered 12 days before the announcement of the finalisation of the contract, according to Mediapart.
It is, however, still not clear if the Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the complaint.
Back in India too, the row over the jet deal has only escalated in the run up to general elections next year. The Congress has been accusing the government of deliberately scrapping a deal the previous UPA government had negotiated with Dassault, for 126 Rafale jets.
Under the deal, 18 jets were to be supplied in a fly-away condition and 108 were to be manufactured in India along with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
Dassault and the French government have, however, rubbished the allegations.
Few petitions have also been filed in the court asking for a systematic investigation into the deal. The pleas by former union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer Prashant Bhushan are being heard by the Supreme Court.
