POINTERS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
New Judge Appointed
A French judge has been appointed to head a probe into suspected “corruption and favouritism” in the ₹59,000 crore Rafale deal with India for 36 fighter jets, according to a report in a French online journal, Mediapart. The highly sensitive probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016.
Background of the Issue
India ordered the jets in September 2016 as an emergency purchase through a government-to-government deal. The deal became controversial, with the Opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is ₹1,670 crores for each, three times the initial bid of ₹526 crores by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL. The UPA was not able to close the deal till 2014, largely over discussions related to the pricing of items not included in the initial bid as per the news published.
The newspaper reports mention that the NDA government has said that it cannot disclose the details of the price on two counts: a confidentiality agreement with France, and the strategic reason; however, it said that the current deal also includes customised weaponry.
Past Court hearing on the Matter
The Supreme Court heard a public interest case on the deal and in November 2019, said it saw nothing wrong in it. In a February 2019 report, the government’s auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India audited the deal and said India had not overpaid for the jets. The fresh petition comes just weeks after French online journal Mediapart reported that Dassault Aviation had paid nearly one million Euros to an Indian middleman to strike the deal.
The fresh petition came before Supreme Court weeks after French online journal Mediapart reported that Dassault Aviation had paid nearly one million Euros to an Indian middleman to strike the deal. On a petition filed by lawyer ML Sharma, the Chief Justice said that the court heard the plea urgently. The report was based on an investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency Agence Francaise Anticorruption (AFA), the journal claimed.
There have been allegations against the Indian government that it helped Reliance secure offset contracts from Dassault. In November 2019, a three-judge bench of then CJI Ranjan Gogoi had heard the corruption matter in detail and ruled that there was no substance in the charges and that there was no need for any probe. The Congress had been pressing for a court-monitored CBI inquiry into the deal.
Image Source: DNA
2 Comments