PARIS: A French judge has been tasked with investigating the 2016 multi-billion dollar sale of Rafale fighter jets to India on suspicion of “corruption”, according to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office.pnf) said on Friday.
The 7.8 billion euro ($9.3 billion) deal between the Indian government and French aircraft maker Dassault for 36 aircraft has long been mired in corruption allegations.
PNF had initially refused to investigate the sale, leading the French investigative website Mediapart to accuse it and the French anti-corruption agency of “burying” the suspicions surrounding the September 2016 deal.
In April, Mediapart claimed it had been paid “hidden commissions worth millions of euros” that helped Dassault terminate the sale, “some of which … could have been paid as bribes to Indian officials”.
Dassault retorted that no wrongdoing was found in the group’s audit.
Following the reports, France’s Sherpa NGO, which specializes in financial crime, filed an official complaint for “corruption” and “influence pedaling” among other charges, prompting an investigating magistrate to be named to investigate the deal. .
Sherpa had already asked for a probe into the deal in 2018, but PNF did not take any action.
In this first complaint, the NGO had condemned the fact that Dassault had chosen Reliance Group as its Indian partner, a group headed by billionaires Anil Ambani, who is close to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dassault had secured a contract to supply 126 jets to India in 2012 and was in talks with the Indian aerospace company. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (thing).
According to Dassault, by March 2015, those talks had almost reached a conclusion.
But in April of the same year, when Modi made an official visit to France, the conversation came to a sudden halt.
Reliance Group, which has no experience in aeronautics, replaced HAL and finalized a new contract for 36 jets.
At the time of talks in January 2016, believe It was financed by a film co-produced by François Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet, who was then president.
Sherpa believes it may be “effects pedaling”.
Hollande said there was no conflict of interest, adding that France has no right over who Dassault’s Indian partner is.
France’s Le Monde newspaper also revealed that France canceled a tax adjustment of 143.7 million euros targeted to a French firm related to Reliance in 2015, at a time when the deal was being negotiated.
The 7.8 billion euro ($9.3 billion) deal between the Indian government and French aircraft maker Dassault for 36 aircraft has long been mired in corruption allegations.
PNF had initially refused to investigate the sale, leading the French investigative website Mediapart to accuse it and the French anti-corruption agency of “burying” the suspicions surrounding the September 2016 deal.
In April, Mediapart claimed it had been paid “hidden commissions worth millions of euros” that helped Dassault terminate the sale, “some of which … could have been paid as bribes to Indian officials”.
Dassault retorted that no wrongdoing was found in the group’s audit.
Following the reports, France’s Sherpa NGO, which specializes in financial crime, filed an official complaint for “corruption” and “influence pedaling” among other charges, prompting an investigating magistrate to be named to investigate the deal. .
Sherpa had already asked for a probe into the deal in 2018, but PNF did not take any action.
In this first complaint, the NGO had condemned the fact that Dassault had chosen Reliance Group as its Indian partner, a group headed by billionaires Anil Ambani, who is close to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dassault had secured a contract to supply 126 jets to India in 2012 and was in talks with the Indian aerospace company. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (thing).
According to Dassault, by March 2015, those talks had almost reached a conclusion.
But in April of the same year, when Modi made an official visit to France, the conversation came to a sudden halt.
Reliance Group, which has no experience in aeronautics, replaced HAL and finalized a new contract for 36 jets.
At the time of talks in January 2016, believe It was financed by a film co-produced by François Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet, who was then president.
Sherpa believes it may be “effects pedaling”.
Hollande said there was no conflict of interest, adding that France has no right over who Dassault’s Indian partner is.
France’s Le Monde newspaper also revealed that France canceled a tax adjustment of 143.7 million euros targeted to a French firm related to Reliance in 2015, at a time when the deal was being negotiated.
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