Paris (France): The French National Financial Prosecutor's office (PNF) on Friday said that a judge has been tasked to carry out an investigation into the alleged corruption in the sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets to India in 2016. It is known that the deal worth 7.8 billion euros had stoked a controversy with the Opposition having questioned the NDA Government over the government-to-government deal with France to buy warplanes made by Dassault, replacing the UPA government's deal with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to buy 126 Rafale aircraft.
Earlier, in April, a French media report claimed that 1.1 million was paid to a 'middleman' by the aircraft manufacturer. It has been stated that an investigation by 'French Anti-corruption Agency-AFA,' had revealed that Dassault paid 1.1 million euros to a middleman, Defsys Solutions post the deal in 2016. This amount was also shown in expenditure by Dassault as 'Gifts to Clients'. Following the reports of allegations by the French journal, the French aerospace major Dassault Aviation in April had rejected fresh allegations of corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal with India, saying that no violations were reported in the frame of the contract.
Read: Dassault Aviation rejects fresh allegations of corruption in Rafale deal
The Opposition party had raised this issue strongly during the 2019 General Elections, where the former Congress president, Rahul Gandhi had demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Congress had also mentioned that under Defence Procurement Procedure, the Indian government Policy envisages that there will be an 'Integrity Clause' in every defence purchase contract. There can be no middleman or payment of commission or bribe. Any evidence of middleman or commission or bribery has serious penal consequences of banning of the supplier defence company, cancellation of contract, registration of FIR and imposition of heavy financial penalties on the different supplier company.
The deal had raised a political row with Congress relentlessly accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of extending the benefit to industrialist Anil Ambani owned Reliance by firming up an overpriced deal of Rafale jets. Also, Dassault Aviation and the Reliance Group had established the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint venture in 2017 and built a plant in Nagpur that has been producing numerous Falcon parts and pieces since 2018.
Read: No scandal in Rafale deal, says Dassault CEO; defends Reliance
The NDA government had inked a Rs 59,000-crore deal on September 23, 2016, to procure 36 Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force did not fructify during the UPA regime.
