Narendra Modi won't survive an inquiry on Rafale : Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi, Nov 2 (IBNS) : As a news portal came up with a new investigative report on the Rafale jet deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday aid "Prime Minister Narendra Modi won't survive an inquiry on Rafale, I guarantee."
The report by The Wire says Rafale jet-maker Dassault followed up its offset partnership with Anil Ambani's defence firm by investing around 40 million euros last year in another Anil Ambani venture that is loss-making and has almost zero revenues. The news portal has cited regulatory filings in France and India.
The report says Dassault's investment translated into a Rs. 284 crore profit for the Ambani group company, Reliance Infrastructure, which sold shares in a subsidiary, Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) at a premium.
"This is called kick-back. This is the first instalment of the kick-back that was given to Anil Ambani by Dassault," Gandhi said.
The Wire report cites public filings by Reliance Infrastructure and Dassault Aviation's, which, it says, mentions the firm's acquisition of 'non-listed securities' including a 34.7% equity participation in Reliance Airport Developers. Filings for 2017 show that Reliance Aerostructure received an inter-corporate deposit of Rs. 89.45 crore from Reliance Infrastructure, the same year that Dassault aviation bought 34.79% of Reliance Infrastructure's stake in Reliance Airport Developers.
"It is now revealed that the land was actually bought from the money of the contract that was given by Dassault to Anil Ambani... this is a clear-cut case of getting a kickback," The Congress President said. "The Dassault chief is blatantly lying. Why has Dassault given money to Anil Ambani in advance to buy the land, that too, mind you, to a loss-making company," he questioned.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government for details of how Dassault chose companies in Anil Ambani's Reliance Group to partner with in India.
Dassault has said it was under no pressure to select Reliance as its partner for a huge joint venture in Nagpur that will manufacture parts for fighter planes. The Anil Ambani-led group is manufacturing aerospace components but not for the 36 jets ordered by India.
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