The Congress, citing French portal Mediapart’s investigation on the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, on Friday asked the Narendra Modi government to explain “who removed the anti-corruption clause from the deal, who received kickbacks and how did a middleman have access to sensitive Defence Ministry documents”.
The party alleged that the state exchequer incurred a loss of ₹21,075 crore in the deal and demanded an independent probe into the matter.
Taking a dig at Mr. Modi, who during his pariksha pe charcha (discussion over exams) had told students that he liked to tackle difficult issues first, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Dear students, PM said answer questions without fear & nervousness. Please ask him to do the same: 1. Who took money in the #Rafale corruption scandal? 2. Who deleted the anti-corruption clauses in the contract? 3. Who gave middlemen access to key Defence Ministry documents?”
Several other party leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Bansal either retweeted or tweeted similar content on the Rafale.
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala held a press conference to reiterate the party’s demand for an independent probe into the matter. “How can a private individual and middleman be so powerful as to influence the decisions of the Modi government in India’s biggest defence deal? Does it not require a thorough independent investigation?” Mr. Surjewala said.
Mediapart’s charge
The French online journal, Mediapart, had alleged that aircraft manufacturer, Dassault Aviation, had paid nearly €1 million to an Indian middleman to make model planes of the Rafale aircraft and the amount was shown as ‘gift to clients’ in their records.
The Modi government as well as Dassaut Aviation, however, had rejected the fresh allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.
“Isn’t it correct that the French government or Dassault deleted the anti-corruption clauses? Were the anti-corruption clauses deleted to escape responsibility from the bribery and commissions to be paid in the Rafale deal?” Mr. Surjewala asked.
The Congress leader also asked why the removal of the “anti-corruption clauses” was approved by the Prime Minister and the government in September 2016 despite the Defence Ministry’s insistence on it earlier.
‘Breach of trust’
Referring to Mediapart’s claims that arms dealer Sushen Gupta, chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, supplied classified documents to Dassault Aviation on the Indian negotiating team when talks were gridlocked over benchmark pricing in the €7.87-billion Rafale deal, Mr. Surjewala said the deal now amounted to ‘treason and criminal breach of public trust’.
“The Prime Minister and the government must answer to the nation,” he said.