NEW DELHI: French portal Mediapart on Monday claimed in a new report that it has evidence of kickbacks being paid by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation to help secure the sale of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft to India.
Mediapart has alleged that false invoices were used to enable Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros (which is nearly Rs 650 million) in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta.
The media portal further alleged that the CBI and the ED had evidence of bribe being paid since October 2018 but did not pursue the matter.
A report on the Medipart website said: “It involves offshore companies, dubious contracts and “false” invoices. Mediapart can reveal that detectives from India’s federal police force, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), and colleagues from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which fights money laundering, have had proof since October 2018 that French aviation firm Dassault paid at least 7.5 million euros (equivalent to just under 650 million rupees) in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta. This was in the context of the French firm’s long and ultimately successful attempt to secure a 7.8 billion-euro-deal in 2016 to sell 36 of its Rafale fighters to India.”
Citing the Mediapart report, BJP leader Amit Malviya said: “The UPA was collecting kickbacks but couldn’t close the deal? NDA later scrapped it and got into a contract with the French Govt, which upset Rahul Gandhi no end.”