Rafale deal | French anti-corruption agency AFA found Dassault paid 1 million euros to intermediary: report
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However, it didn’t refer matter to prosecutors, in accordance to Mediapart probe.
French plane producer Dassault Aviation had paid one million euros to an Indian firm owned by a intermediary, being investigated for one more defence deal in India, in reference to the €7.87-billion Rafale deal between India and France in 2016, French anti-corruption agency Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) found in its audit, in accordance to a French media report.
(*1*) in accordance to an investigation by Mediapart.
Dassault had supplied AFA with a “proforma invoice” dated March 30, 2017, equipped by an Indian firm referred to as Defsys Solutions, which, in accordance to the AFA investigation report, was associated to 50% of the entire order (€1,017,850), for the manufacture of fifty fashions of the Rafale C, with a worth per unit of €20,357.
‘Bogus purchase’
However, the report mentioned Dassault was unable to present the AFA with a “single document showing that these models existed and were delivered, and not even a photograph” when AFA inspectors subsequently found these particulars in mid-October 2018 and requested the corporate for a proof.
“The inspectors thus suspected that this was a bogus purchase designed to hide hidden financial transactions,” it mentioned.
Defsys Solutions is certainly one of Dassault’s sub-contractors in India for the Rafale deal. However, the corporate with 170 staff will not be a specialist in making fashions and as an alternative assembles flight simulators and optical and digital techniques for the aeronautical trade, typically underneath licence for international corporations, in accordance to the report.
In addition, the corporate belongs to the Gupta household, certainly one of whom is being investigated within the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. Sushen Mohan Gupta was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2019 for kickbacks within the AgustaWestland deal and later launched on bail.
Mr. Gupta can also be alleged to have labored for Dassault and obtained confidential paperwork from the Defence Ministry in India.
Rafale was initially shortlisted within the Medium Multi-Role Contract Aircraft (MMRCA) deal for 126 jets, however the deal received held up over pricing and know-how switch points.
In April 2015, throughout a go to to France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the direct buy of 36 jets, citing “critical operational necessity” of the Indian Air Force.
The MMRCA deal was subsequently scrapped.
In September 2020, the IAF inducted a batch of 5 Rafales, of the 36 jets contracted from France underneath the €7.87 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement signed by India in September 2016.
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