Rafale deal: CBI was aware of kickbacks, alleges French journal
Report says €7.5 million paid to middleman who was also involved in VVIP chopper scam
Report says €7.5 million paid to middleman who was also involved in VVIP chopper scam
Report says €7.5 million paid to middleman who was also involved in VVIP chopper scam
Report says €7.5 million paid to middleman who was also involved in VVIP chopper scam
French investigative news outlet Mediapart has published new documents which it claims are “bogus invoices” used by aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to pay up to €7.5 million to a middleman in order to facilitate the sale of the Rafale fighter jet to India.
The Rs 59,000 crore deal has been in the spotlight after a French judge was appointed to lead a “highly sensitive” judicial investigation into it following allegations of “corruption and favouritism” in the sale of 36 Rafales to India in 2016 for an estimated €7.8 billion.
The invoices appear to show payments allegedly made before 2013 to alleged middleman Sushen Gupta. Mediapart’s reporter Yann Philippin, who has covered the deal in the past, wrote the story, in which he alleges that Indian investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) were aware of the invoices since at least 2018, but took no action on it.
"It involves offshore companies, dubious contracts and false invoices. Mediapart can reveal that detectives from India's federal police force, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), and colleagues from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which fights money laundering, have had proof since October 2018 that French aviation firm Dassault paid at least 7.5 million euros (equivalent to just under Rs 650 million) in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta," Mediapart claimed in the report.
Gupta had been a person of interest to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had accused him of being a middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scandal as well, stating that he held classified documents, draft letters and sensitive information pertaining to the Defence Ministry, Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
As part of this case, Mauritian authorities had sent documents related to the company to the CBI and ED. While the documents were sent to the CBI on October 11, 2018, a week after the CBI received a formal complaint alleging corruption in the Rafale deal, it did not open an investigation “even though just seven days after that corruption complaint was filed it received information proving that secret commissions had indeed been paid,” the report said.
The Mediapart report says Gupta’s lawyer’s employee called these invoices fake. It notes that “Dassault” is incorrectly spelt “Dassult” in the invoice, dated May 19, 2009.
Both Dassault and the Indian defence ministry have in the past trashed allegations that there was any corruption in the contract for 36 Rafalse in flyaway condition. In 2019 the Supreme Court of India also dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the deal saying there was no ground for it.
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya tweeted Mediapart’s story, alleging that it was the UPA government which collected kickbacks.
“Dassault paid €14.6 Mn to intermediary Sushen Gupta over the period 2004-2013 to sell Rafale. So UPA was collecting kickbacks but couldn’t close the deal? NDA later scrapped it and got into a contract with the French Govt, which upset Rahul Gandhi no end,” he tweeted.
On November 7, India reportedly lifted its ban on dealings with Italian firm Leonardo (formerly known as Finmeccanica), which had banned for its role in the VVIP helicopter scam. the ban was imposed in 2014 following allegations of corruption in the Rs 3,600 crore contract to supply helicopters to carry the prime minister, vice president and president. However, investigations into the case against the company by the CBI and ED are still ongoing.