The controversy over the Rafale deal worth nearly Rs 60,000 crore is once again in the headlines.
The main reason for this is an exclusive report from MediaPart, a French media company, claiming that Rafale's producer Dasso gave one million rupees to an Indian middleman, which is a separate amount from the deal.
Investigations are underway against this middleman for his involvement in the Augusta chopper deal scam. MediaPart's three-story story on kickbacks and corruption has raised some new questions related to the Rafale scandal, some new information has been revealed.
The French website, which ran a headline of 'Sale of Rafale fighter jet in India: How a scam was suppressed', claimed that "With this controversial deal, Dasso paid 10 million Euros to that middleman. Which is being investigated in India concerning a separate defense deal (Augusta chopper deal). "
According to the report of this website, the reality of this separate arrangement came to light during a regular audit of the French anti-corruption agency 'FA'. Decided not to alert. In other words, it was suppressed.
According to the report, the money was given to the middleman to supply the model of Rafale planes. According to the number of these models, the price of 20,000 Euro per aircraft model was shown. The report has raised the question of how a fake aircraft model can cost 20,000 euros.
Demand for independent investigation
The response of the Congress party to this news came on Monday. Congress demanded an independent inquiry into the matter.
Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "The commissioning of over 60,000 crore rupees, presence of middlemen and money transactions in the country's largest defense deal has once again opened the layers of the Rafale deal. The presence of commissions and middlemen has come to the fore in the Modi government, which exclaimed Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, saying 'na khayenge,na khane denge'. We are not saying this, a French news agency, the news portal, has revealed through the French Anti-Corruption Agency late last night. It is now clear that in this biggest defense deal worth more than Rs 60,000 crores, a miraculous saga of loss of government treasury, playing with national interests, culture of crony capitalism, commissioning, and presence of middlemen is now in front of this country. The defense procurement process was blown openly. "
On the other hand, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has denied this news. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has described the report as 'baseless.
What is the Rafale scam?
Two years ago there was a lot of uproar in India over Rafale. This was seen as the biggest crisis of the Modi government. The matter came to an end when the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the government in 2018, and a year later, the Supreme Court itself dismissed the petitions demanding a review of its decision to be given a clean chit to the government in the deal. The three-member bench of the Supreme Court consisted of the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices SK Kaul, and KM Joseph. Ranjan Gogoi was made a member of the Rajya Sabha a few months after his retirement.
In 2016, France and India signed a 7.8 billion euro deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale jet fighters of French defense group Dasso.
The Rafale is a two-engine multi-role fighter aircraft, manufactured by French company Daso Aviation.
Controversy is on many issues.
The first is why the order of 126 aircraft was initially changed to 36 aircraft.
The second is about its price. The 2016 annual report of Daso Aviation stated that as of 31 December 2016, there were old orders of 200 million rupees 23 thousand Euro for Rafale fighter aircraft while by 31 December 2015 there were orders of 14 crore one lakh 75 thousand Euro.
Daso says that this increase was made after the 36 Rafale deal was confirmed with India in 2016.
The third controversy is about the company of industrialist Anil Ambani. Many questions have been raised about the profile of his company Reliance Defense and the merit of the company. According to the number of agreements the company has made, Anil Ambani's company is reportedly inexperienced. During this controversy, the shocking statement of former French President François Hollande came that in the multi-million dollar 'Rafale deal, Anil Ambani was 'imposed' on France as an offset partner by the Indian government.
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