UPDATED: April 5, 2021 22:38 IST
According to a French media report €1.1 million was paid to a middleman by the aircraft manufacturer, Dassault.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dismissed the corruption allegation in the Rafale fighter jets deal as “completely baseless”. It said on Monday that the Supreme Court had declined a request for a probe in the purchase of the aircraft, and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India also did not find anything wrong.
The Congress on Monday had sought a detailed probe in the Rafale defence deal and demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a French media report claimed that 1.1 million was paid to a middleman by the aircraft manufacturer.
The Congress on Monday reiterated its demand for an independent probe into the Rafale deal following a new set of revelations in French news portal mediapart.fr, which cited French anti corruption age
Rafale fighter aircraft
PTI Photo
The Rafale jet fighter deal continues to backfire. The latest in the saga is the accusation that the 2016 deal between India and France also involved the payment of 1.1 million Euros by aviation major Dassault to an Indian middleman. Any such payment would be a violation of the mandatory Defence Procurement Procedure laid down by the Union Ministry of Defence.
The French publication Mediapart has sourced its claim in an investigation undertaken by the country s anti-corruption agency, the AFA, which made the initial findings during an audit of Dassault.
What raised eyebrows during the audit was a payment of 1.1 million Euros which the company said was used to pay for the manufacture of 50 large replica models of Rafale jets. What is befuddling is that there is no proof that these models were made, Mediapart claims. Also, there is a mystifying question: Why had Dassault ordered an Indian company to make models of its own aircraft at 20,000 Euros
Charges of kickback in Rafale deal haunt Modi govt once again
Mediapart report had prompted the Congress to demand an independent investigation and answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Monday April 5, 2021 11:20 PM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies
New Delhi: Allegations of kickback in Rafale deal resurfaced once again after media reports in France claimed that the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation had paid 1.1 million Euros to an Indian company, prompting the Congress on Monday to demand an independent investigation and answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Rafale fighter jets deal involved a payment worth one million euros (Rs 8.62 crore) to an Indian middleman, which plane maker Dassault has not been able to explain to the French anti-corruption authorities, the country’s online journal Mediapart reported Sunday.
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