“Rahul Gandhi Should Answer”: BJP Attacks Congress Over New Rafale Report

New Delhi:

A massive political battle has been reignited by the French portal Mediapartes. New report on alleged bribery The payments were made to a middleman involved in the Rafale deal between 2007 and 2012, and the CBI allegedly failed to investigate these allegations despite obtaining documents.

The ruling BJP today attacked the Congress over alleged corruption before 2014. Also, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led their party, accusing the government of “hiding” on corruption.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Congress (Indian National Congress) means ‘I need commission’. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra, all say ‘I need commission’. “

Let Rahul Gandhi answer from Italy- Why did you and your party try to spread lies about Rafale in all these years? It is now learned that his own government was in power from 2007 to 2012 when the commission was paid, in which a middleman was named. has also come to the fore,” Mr. Patra said.

The Congress said: “The latest revelations in the Operation Cover-up reveal a suspected nexus between the (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi government-CBI-Enforcement Directorate to bury the Rafale corruption.”

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi also posted tweets sharing news articles on the Rafale report.

Mediapart in its latest report said that French aircraft maker Dassault paid at least 7.5 million euros (about Rs 650 million) to a middleman to help secure the sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets to India and the CBI Indian agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Enforcement Directorate failed to investigate this despite the presence of documents.

Mediapart, which is probing allegations of corruption in the Rs 59,000-crore Rafale deal, said the bulk of the alleged payments were made before 2013.

NDTV could not independently verify the authenticity of these documents and has reached out to the CBI for comment.

Mediapart has published alleged false invoices, saying it enabled Dassault to pay secret commissions to alleged middleman Sushen Gupta. The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate have evidence since October 2018 but have failed to act.

Invoices and bank statements received by the CBI also show that Sushen Gupta’s shell company had received 914,488 euros between 2002 and 2006 – until 2004 when the BJP-led NDA-1 was in power.

The Congress-led UPA was in power between 2004 and 2014. The 36-jet Rafale deal was signed on September 23, 2016, after seven years of exercise involving 126 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, which did not materialize during the UPA regime.

Mediapart’s investigation on the “Raphael Papers” led to a judicial inquiry in France into allegations of corruption, influence peddling and partisanship in July.

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 to India.

To facilitate the investigation, Mauritius agreed to send documents related to the company to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. The documents were sent to the CBI on October 11, 2018.

According to the portal, this came to light when Sushen Gupta also acted as a mediator for Dassault regarding the Rafale deal. The report states that 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 markedly over-billed, and most of which money.” The alleged false system was deliberately sent to Mauritius. Some of the invoices also contained the name of the French company, referring to “Dassault” Aviation.

Mediapart maintains that Mauritius documents cover the duration of the bidding process that was eventually won by Dassault (2007 – 2012), when Congress was in power. “While the complaint filed on October 4, 2018 targets suspicious activity from 2015, when the deal was being finalized on the authority of current BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the site says.