Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the investment that Rafale maker Dassault Aviation had made in an Anil Ambani firm was the first tranche of kickbacks in the aircraft purchase and declared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not survive an inquiry into the deal.
The Congress alleges that Modi had pressured the French to give the offset contract to Anil Ambani’s Reliance while keeping the defence and foreign ministries in the dark. The public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was shut out of the final deal.
“A loss-making company whose valuation is Rs 8 lakh gets an investment of Rs 284 crore from Dassault Aviation. Why should anybody do that? There is no logical reason,” the Congress president told a news conference.
“This is called a kickback —100 per cent kickback — the first instalment, the first tranche of the kickbacks, which was supposed to have come to Anil Ambani.”
Rahul continued: “The Dassault CEO said (in an interview) that Ambani got the deal, and not HAL, because they (Reliance) had the land. HAL has got more land and it turns out the land Ambani bought was with the money that Dassault gave. It is clear….
“Why is the Dassault CEO lying? Who is he trying to protect? He is protecting the person who runs this country, Narendra Modi.”
Rahul had earlier accused Dassault of lying in favour of the Indian government about the way Anil Ambani’s firm had landed the offset deal because the French firm did not want to risk the huge contract it had got.
The Wire news portal reported on Thursday that regulatory filings in France and India had revealed that Dassault had last year invested about 40 million euros (Rs 284 crore) in a subsidiary of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Infrastructure. The subsidiary, the news portal said, had almost zero revenue.
“Public filings by Reliance Infrastructure, a Reliance ADAG (Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) group company, show that it sold a 34.7 per cent stake in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL), a wholly owned subsidiary, to Dassault Aviation in FY (financial year) 2017-18,” The Wire report said.
“The terms of the sale are not known but Reliance said it made a profit of Rs 284.19 crore on the sale of 24,83,923 shares which had a face value of Rs 10 each.”
Rahul has contended that it is an “open and shut” case of corruption by the Prime Minister. He tweeted on Friday morning: “Rs 284 crore of Rafale kickback money has been traced to an Anil Ambani owned company. The stench of corruption is leading straight to the gates of Race Course Road (where the Prime Minister lives).”
Rahul was harsher when he interacted with the media later: “The Prime Minister is terrified. He can’t sleep at night. Neend nahi aa rahi. He knows the truth will come out the moment an inquiry starts. Otherwise, he would have ordered an inquiry.
“He would have said, ‘Main chowkidar hun, inquiry shuru karo (I am a sentinel, start the inquiry).’ But he removed the CBI chief who was planning to start an investigation.”
Asked about the government’s reluctance to share the details of the Rafale pricing with the Supreme Court, Rahul said: “The government says the price is a top secret. The Dassault annual report has pricing in it. It shows how much the Indian government paid.
“When I met (French President Emmanuel) Macron, I told him the aircraft are being bought with the Indian people’s money and they can’t be told about the price? Is there truly a secrecy clause? He told me the price cannot be a part of a secrecy agreement.”
Rahul added: “There are two points. One, there is huge corruption: money has been paid. Second point: the Rafale deal was negotiated for a decade…. There is a whole sequence, a huge process. Modi personally — not (Manohar) Parrikar (the then defence minister), he (Parrikar) said the same himself….
“Nobody but Modi took the decision. Parrikar said the boss took the decision. There was no permission by the CCS (cabinet committee on security). The CC (cabinet committee) met after the deal was done.”
Rahul continued: “If an inquiry happens, Modi is not going to survive this inquiry. It is clear who the man was — the deal was done by Modi to give Ambani Rs 30,000 crore.”
He expressed shock that some people still believed that the Rafale deal was not a scam.
“Investigation is a must. The crux of the matter is (that) corruption happened. I don’t think the government will accept (a demand for a probe by) a JPC (joint parliamentary committee). The CBI chief wants to start an inquiry.”
The Congress issued a statement outlining the purported process through which the Ambani firm had replaced HAL: “Anil Ambani accompanies Modi to France in April 2015. As former President Francois Hollande said, the contract to Ambani is set as a precondition. Aircraft worth Rs 526cr is bought for Rs 1,670cr. In September 2016, the government signs the agreement. In December 2016, government pays 15 per cent advance to Dassault. In 2017, Dassault invests Rs 284cr (in) Reliance firm.”
The statement added: “This is done by purchasing 24,84,000 shares worth Rs 10 at 11,000 per cent premium, at Rs 1,154 each. This junk, loss-making company had assets worth Rs 7,10,000 in 2015-16 and Rs 8,30,000 in 2016-17, and does no work, sells its shares worth Rs 10 at 11,000 per cent premium. This is nothing but Rafale kickback. How many more instalments have to come? How many other loss-making companies Dassault has invested in?”