A fresh political fight broke out over the Rafale deal, following reports in the French media that a judicial investigation has been launched over allegations levelled by an anti-corruption NGO. Congress demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe, while BJP said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was being used as a “pawn” by competing defence companies.
“Corruption in the Rafale deal has come out clearly now. The stand of Congress and Rahul Gandhi has been vindicated after the French government ordered a probe,” said AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, pointing to reports of the investigation ordered by the French public prosecution agency into the £5.9 billion deal.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra cited the SC verdict and the comptroller and auditor general’s report, which had found no wrongdoing in the defence deal between the Indian and French governments, to reject Congress’ allegations. Reports of a middleman in the deal were about an individual named and investigated for a UPA-era defence contract.
According to French media reports, the judicial investigation has been ordered by the country’s national financial prosecutors’ office, following investigative website Mediapart’s claims in April of wrongdoings in the deal as well as a complaint filed by French NGO Sherpa that specialises in financial crimes.
The highly sensitive probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016 was formally opened on June 14th,” Mediapart said. Mediapart journalist Yann Philippin, who filed a series of reports on the deal, said a first complaint was “buried” in 2019 by a former PNF chief. In April, Mediapart, citing an investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency, reported that Dassault Aviation had paid about one million euros to an Indian middleman. Dassault Aviation has rejected the allegations of corruption, saying no violations were reported in the frame of the contract.
Surjewala attacked the government, saying, “When the French government has accepted that there is corruption in the deal, should a JPC probe be not held in the country where the corruption took place?” He added that the demand should not be seen through a partisan political lens, but viewed as a concern for national security. “Will the Prime Minister, like the French, now answer to the nation and tell when will he submit his government to a JPC probe into the Rafale scam?” AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth, said Lord Buddha.” Patra countered Congress, saying, “The way Rahul Gandhi is behaving, it will not be an exaggeration to say that he is being used as a pawn by competing companies. He has been lying right from the beginning on the issue.”
