A French news portal, Mediapart on Monday claimed in a new report that it had evidence of kickbacks being paid by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation to help secure the sale of Rafale fighter aircraft to India. Mediapart has alleged that false invoices were used to enable Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros (which is nearly Rs 65 crore) in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta. Sushen was earlier arrested for alleged bribes in the AgustaWestland deal.
According to media reports, these payments were made between 2007 and 2012 during the rule of Congress-led UPA government. The UPA-era Rafale deal was scrapped by the BJP-led NDA government after it came to power in 2014. The NDA went for a government to government deal and subsequently inked a Rs 59,000-crore inter-government deal on 23 September, 2016 with France to procure 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation.
Citing the Mediapart report, BJP leader Amit Malviya said: “The 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.”
The media portal further alleged that the CBI and the ED had evidence of bribe being paid since October 2018 but did not pursue the matter.
“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, and colleagues from the Enforcement Directorate, 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. “This was in the context of the French firm’s long and ultimately successful attempt to secure a 7.8 billion-euro-deal in 2016 to sell 36 of its Rafale fighters to India,” it said.
The Supreme Court in 2019 dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the deal, saying there was no ground for it.