France begins probe into Rafale fighter jet deal with India

The Supreme Court had in December 2018 concluded that no irregularities were found in the deal

The controversy over the 36 Rafale fighter jets India procured from the Dassault Aviation company of France rekindled as a judicial investigation into the deal commenced of late in the West European nation.

The Parquet National Financier (PNF) of France appointed a judge to investigate the deal, acting on a complaint filed by Sherpa, an organisation set up to legally fight financial crimes and protect and defend victims of such offences. The PNF – a judicial institution set up to probe serious economic and financial crimes – confirmed that it had launched an investigation into the multi-billion-dollar deal for sale of 36 Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The IAF started receiving the Rafale fighter jets from the Dassault Aviation company of France a year ago and had so far received 23 of the 36 aircraft.

The rest are likely to arrive by the end of the year.

Read | IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria flags off four Rafale aircraft for India in France

New Delhi's Rs 59,000 crore government-to-government deal with Paris to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets “off the shelf” had turned into a major political controversy in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government being accused by the opposition Congress of nudging the Dassault Aviation to choose Reliance Defence as its offset partner, brushing aside state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The Supreme Court, however, in December 2018 concluded that no irregularities were found in the deal. It also dismissed review petitions in November 2019.

Sherpa, however, on April 28 last announced that its lawyers Maîtres William Bourdon and Vincent Brenghart, filed a complaint with the PNF, seeking a judicial investigation for corruption, favouritism and various financial offences likely to have occurred in the context of the deal.

Read | Induction of Rafale aircraft into Indian Air Force by 2022, says IAF Chief

Sherpa has its headquarters in Paris.

The organisation outlined in its complaint what it called “the troubled circumstances surrounding the negotiations” and signing of a France-India agreement for the production and sale by Dassault Aviation of 36 Rafale aircraft amounting to €7.8 billion. “We questioned the conditions under which the historical operator in India has been pushed aside and the sudden appointment by Dassault Aviation of the Indian group Reliance, which in addition to having no experience in the aeronautical sector was facing important financial troubles and was headed by a man notoriously close to the Indian Prime Minister in office,” Sherpa a.k.a Association Sherpa stated in a note on its website.

The organisation had earlier on October 26, 2018 lodged its first complaint, but the PNF had then declined to probe the deal.

The Sherpa’s complaint on the deal is based on the reports and documents published by Mediapart, an online investigative journal published from Paris.

Mediapart, which has been reporting on the India-France fighter jet agreement, quoted the PNF confirming that the investigation was focussed on all four allegations about the deal – “corruption”, “influence peddling”, “money laundering” and “favouritism”. The journal had previously reported in 2019 that the then PNF head Eliane Houlette had dismissed an initial complaint filed by Sherpa, going against the advice of one of her staff and without carrying out any investigations, justifying her decision as “to preserve the interests of France”.

“Now,” it reported on Friday, “two years later, her successor as head of the PNF, Jean-François Bohnert, has decided to support the opening of a probe, after the complaint was updated with details from Mediapart’s recent series of investigations”.