Rafale row: CBI decided not to probe kickbacks, claims report

Mediapart alleges Dassault paid at least €7.5 mn to middleman Sushen Gupta from 2007 to 2012 through 'overbilled' IT contracts with shell company to secure sale of jets

French investigative journal Mediapart has made fresh claims that alleged bogus invoices were used that enab­led French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros in secret commissions to a middleman to help it secure the Rafale deal with India.

Mediapart had reported in July that a French judge has been appointed to lead a "highly sensitive" judicial investigation into suspected corruption" and favo­uritism in the Rs 59,000-crore inter-governmental deal with India for the supply of 36 Rafale fighter jets. There was no reaction yet on the latest report from the defence ministry or Dassault Aviation.

“Mediapart is today publishing the alleged false invoices that enabled French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation to pay at least 7.5 million euros in secret commissions to a middleman to help secure the sale of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft to India," the journal said in its new report on Sunday.

It alleged that despite the existence of "these documents", the Indian probe agencies decided not to pursue the matter. "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 Rs 650 million) in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta," Mediapart claimed in the report. "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," it said. Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation and India's defence ministry have previously trashed allegations of any corruption in the contract.

India's Supreme Court too in 2019 dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the deal saying there was no ground for it. In a statement published in April, reacting to Media­part's report on the investigation, Dassault Aviation stated that the group, "acts in strict compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and national laws".