French Journal Alleges CBI, ED Didn’t Investigate Kickbacks In Rafale Deal Despite Having Proof

French journal Mediapart revealed on Monday that it has evidence that Dassault Aviation paid kickbacks to secure the deal of 36 Rafale aircraft with India.

Dassault Aviation Paid Kickbacks to Get Rafale Deal | File Image

New Delhi: French online investigative journal Mediapart revealed on Monday that it has evidence that Dassault Aviation paid kickbacks to secure the deal of 36 Rafale Aircraft with India.

The French Portal claimed that it has the false invoices used to pay approximately 7.5 million euros to the middleman Sushen Gupta between 2007 and 2012 to secure the Rafale deal.

Gupta is already under investigation for alleged money laundering in the AgustaWestland case. 

The French online investigative journal, in its report, alleges that the Indian central agencies, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) & Enforcement Directorate (ED), did not pursue the investigation in the deal despite being provided with evidence.

“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,” states the report on the portal.

The French journal also claimed that the evidence was sent to the CBI in October 2018, but they did not investigate the allegations.

Mediapart had published a report in April this year stating: “According to an accounts spreadsheet belonging to Sushen Gupta, an entity called simply ‘D’, which is a code he regularly used to designate Dassault, paid €14.6 million to Interdev in Singapore over the period 2004-2013.”

Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya dismissed the allegations and blamed the UPA government which was then in power. 

Dassault paid €14.6 Mn to intermediary Sushen Gupta over the period 2004-2013 to sell Rafale.

So 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.https://t.co/TlFPrbNgHs

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 8, 2021