Rafale deal to be probed by French judge for alleged corruption : Report

A French judge has been appointed to lead a judicial investigation into allegations of corruption and favouritism in the pact for 36 Rafle fighter planes of 7.8 billion euros between the Indian government and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, a French online journal, Mediapart informed. Dassault aviation has not reacted to this as of now.

“The highly sensitive probe into the inter-governmental deal signed in 2016 was formally opened on June 14,” the French Journal added. 

This came after a series of probes done by Mediapart followed by a complaint filed by the French NGO Sherpa. A similar complaint filed earlier by Sherpa was rejected by the PNF in 2018.

Former French president Hollande was in office during the Rafale deal, and current French president Emmanuel Macron, who was the finance minister at that time. The investigation will be led by an independent magistrate, an investigating judge.

In a statement to Mediapart, Sherpa’s lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth said the launch of the probe “will necessarily favour the emergence of the truth and the identification of those responsible in what increasingly resembles a state scandal."

The Rafale Controversy Back Home

The Central government had signed an inter-governmental deal with France for the sale of 36 Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) in the flyaway condition in 2016. However, came under scanner after the Opposition alleged that Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence, which has no experience,  had been signed on as the offset partner by weapons manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders have been demanding that the government must reveal the price of Rafale.  

Congress has been claiming that the NDA government increased the price for each Rafale aircraft three times than the initial bid under the UPA government. The Supreme Court of India had said it saw nothing wrong in the deal.