A Paris-based investigative website Mediapart has reported that the Narendra Modi-led government is refusing to cooperate with French judges in their ongoing investigation into alleged corruption in the sale of 36 Dassault-built Rafale fighter jets to India in 2016 for €7.8 billion.
The Wire, quoting Mediapart’s information, has said that the Indian government has de facto refused to comply with a formal request for international cooperation on the case that was made in November 2022 by the two French judges in charge of the criminal investigation into suspected “corruption”, “influence peddling” and “favouritism”.
Mediapart had earlier reported how the French and Indian governments are united in their desire to slow down a highly sensitive investigation that could implicate three heads of state or government: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, French president Emmanuel Macron and his predecessor at the Élysée François Hollande, The Wire added.
This case, per the report, illustrates in particular the desire of the Modi government, echoed in Paris, to ensure that the French judicial investigation into corruption over the sale of the Rafale jets does not reach an outcome. The result is that the investigating judges face a major hurdle, as they lack both the classified French documents and the Indian judicial documents which prove the payment of secret commissions, the report claimed.
For instance, in October 2018, the French investigating judges had requested the Indian authorities to send them judicial documents concerning Dassault and Sushen Gupta, an influential defence businessman, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged Agusta Westland Chopper scam.
Gupta was also the Rafale deal agent, who received “millions in commission”, Mediapart had reported in April 2021.
The Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) is the joint company created by Dassault and the Reliance group, which is run by billionaire Anil Ambani.
In a noteworthy development, The Hindu reported in February 2019 that the Modi government had removed “anti-corruption clauses” from the Rafale deal in 2016, just before the signing of the final contract. This, despite earlier objections from members of the Indian negotiating team, the newspaper reported, The Wire added.
In a diplomatic note, written on July 25, 2023, the French ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain, highlighted challenges in cooperation on criminal cases with India.
“Many cases are handled by our Indian partners with very long delays, often in an incomplete manner,” he said in the note.
The Indian government’s communications service and India’s Ministry of Home Affairs did not respond to Mediapart.