Rafale row: Govt gave wrong facts to SC, verdict not clean chit, says Cong

Blaming the Narendra Modi government for the "factual bloomers" in the Supreme Court judgment in the Rafale deal, the Congress on Saturday asserted that the apex court was neither the right forum to examine the corruption in the deal nor the verdict was a "clean chit" for the BJP-led Centre.   

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report relying on which the Supreme Court dismissed petitions seeking a probe into the alleged corruption in the deal, continued to be the latest flashpoint between the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
 

Addressing the media here, Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal said the Friday verdict had "factual bloomers" for which the Modi-led Centre was responsible. 

"There are factual bloomers in the judgment for which the government is responsible and not the court. If you give wrong facts to the court and on that basis, the court makes factual assertions, in that case, it's the government which is responsible," said Sibal.
 

While the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi-led Bench in the verdict said that the "pricing details have been shared with the CAG, and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)", Sibal said that "no portion of the CAG report has been placed before Parliament or placed in the public domain".

"We need to call the Attorney General to the PAC and get this issue clarified as to why these assertions were made before the court and why such an affidavit was filed which did not reflect true facts."
 

"The responsibility is of the Attorney General for allowing such wrong facts to be submitted before the court. It is a serious issue and there will be discussions on this in parliament and the PAC will call the Attorney General," said the former Union Law Minister.

Pointing to the Supreme Court not adjudicating on matters of pricing or technical aspects of the jets deal, Sibal ridiculed the Modi government for tom-toming the verdict as a clean chit. 
 

"Congress has always maintained that the Supreme Court is not the appropriate forum because, it cannot examine all the file notings or examine witnesses on oath including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who needs to be questioned as also defence ministry officials."

"It is childish that the government and the BJP is claiming victory," Sibal said ridiculing Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for their assertions that the verdict was a clean chit to the Modi government and accusing the Congress of jeopardising national security by politicising the defence deal.