A massive political fight was reignited on Tuesday by French portal Mediapart’s new report on alleged kickbacks paid between 2007 and 2012 to a middleman involved in the Rafale deal, and on the CBI allegedly failing to investigate these allegations despite receiving documents.
Seizing on a French media report that commissions were paid between 2007 and 2012 for securing the Rafale deal with India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the INC (Indian National Congress) should be renamed as “I Need Commission” and alleged that the Congress’ dissatisfaction with the cut on offer was behind the failed negotiations when it was in power.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on the Congress leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi who has been alleging corruption in the purchase of the fighter aircraft by the Narendra Modi government, and accused him of spreading “canard, disinformation and lies”. Patra also sought Rahul Gandhi’s response to the fresh revelation by French investigative journal Mediapart.
However, the Congress hit back and noted that the Congress has been seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the deal. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera asked as to why the government has not agreed to this.
The political battle over the matter heated up after Mediapart made fresh claims that bogus invoices were used that enabled French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros in secret commissions to a middleman to help it secure the Rafale deal with India. According to Mediapart’s investigation, Dassault Aviation paid the kickbacks to the intermediary in Mauritius between 2007 and 2012. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power between 2004 and 2014, leading the ruling BJP for the first time to launch an aggressive counter-attack on the main opposition party after confining itself mostly to dismiss its allegations of corruption in the deal.
Diving into the Rafale controversy, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday demanded that the Centre should investigate claims made by French portal Mediapart that Rafale makers paid 7.5 million Euros to middlemen between 2007 and 2012. “A lot of news regarding Rafale has been coming in the French media. I think the way the news is coming, the government should investigate the matter. We demand an investigation by the government,” Malik said.
The Modi government had inked the deal on 23 September 2016, to procure 36 Rafale jets from 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.
Hitting out at the Congress, Patra alleged that it was clearly the dissatisfaction of the Congress and the Gandhi family that was the main reason behind the negotiations falling through during the UPA government. The Mediapart story says that “corruption, influence-peddling and favouritism” marked the deal during the UPA government, he noted and said, “It will not be an exaggeration to say that the INC be renamed as ‘I Need Commission’.” “Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra, all say that I need commission,” Patra said. The UPA government had a deal within every deal, he added.
The Congress has in past said that the allegations of corruption by the BJP against its ruling family and its members were driven by vendetta. To a question about the Congress’ demand as to why the government has not probed the matter, Patra noted that the alleged middleman was earlier arrested by Enforcement Directorate in a corruption case and said probe agencies must be looking into the matter. The BJP spokesperson said the alleged middleman Sushen Mohan Gupta, whose name has cropped up in the Rafale case, was also accused of pocketing commission in the purchase of VVIP choppers. This is too much of a coincidence, and too much of a coincidence is always a conspiracy, he said.
Sushen Gupta is accused of receiving bribes from AgustaWestland through a shell company registered in Mauritius, Interstellar Technologies, to seal a deal to supply 12 VVIP choppers for India. To facilitate investigations, Mauritius agreed to send documents related to the company to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate. The documents were sent to the CBI on 11 October 2018. According to the portal, this is when it was discovered that Sushen Gupta also acted as an intermediary for Dassault over the Rafale deal. The report says Gupta’s Interstellar Technologies “received at least 7.5 million euros from the French aviation firm between 2007 and 2012, thanks to IT contracts that were clearly overbilled, and from which most of the money was discreetly sent to Mauritius using a system of alleged false invoices. Some of these invoices even got the name of the French company wrong, referring to “Dassult” Aviation.
Mediapart says the Mauritian documents cover the period of the bid process that was eventually won by Dassault (2007 – 2012), when the Congress was in power. “Whereas the complaint filed on 4 October 2018, targets suspicious activity that took place from 2015, when the deal was being finalised on the authority of the current BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” says the site.
The Supreme Court and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have already gone into the contents of the Rafale deal signed by the Modi government and found nothing wrong in it, Patra said. He said Rahul Gandhi had made the alleged corruption in the purchase a big election issue during the 2019 polls but it failed to make any impact. The BJP retained power with a bigger majority.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi asked his party colleagues not to stop or be afraid of fighting against the “corrupt” central government as truth was with them in every step. There was no reaction yet from the defence ministry or Dassault Aviation on the latest report.
‘When the truth is with you in every step, then what is there to worry about? My Congress colleagues—keep fighting like this against the corrupt central government. Don’t stop, don’t get tired, don’t be afraid,’ Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag ‘#RafaleScam’.
“He should respond to this from Italy,” Patra said, citing reports that the Congress leader is currently not in India. Corruption has become “homeless” after the BJP came to power, and its address is 10 Janpath, he alleged, referring to the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Congress hit back at the BJP, saying that the government has launched “operation cover up” and demanded to know as to why it had not probed the entire episode so far.
