7.5 million euros given to middlemen in Rafale deal: Reports

Ground Report | New Delhi: Middlemen in Rafale deal; A report by a French news portal 'Mediapart' has claimed that Dassault Aviation had allegedly bribed middleman Sushen Gupta to influence the Rafale deal in India.

Middlemen in Rafale deal

Mediapart's report also claims that Sushen Gupta had issued fake bills in the name of Dassault Aviation, the company that made Rafale. On these bills, they have been given 75 lakh euros i.e. about 65 crore rupees between 2007 and 2012.

The Indian government had purchased 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from the French company Dassault Aviation. There have been allegations of irregularities in this deal but the Indian government has denied any irregularities.

This latest report mentions 36 Rafale planes taken during the BJP-led NDA government, but during this period, there was a Congress-led UPA government in India when there was talk of getting money for fake bills.

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According to Mediapart, the money was paid to Sushen Gupta through his company Interstellar Technologies Limited in Mauritius. There were some questionable contracts related to information technology between Dassault Aviation and Interstellar.

Sushen Gupta is the prime accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal taking bribe of Rs 423 crore. In this case, also, the matter of allegedly receiving payment through his company Interstellar had come to the fore. Sushen Gupta was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2019.

jets to India

The portal had earlier reported that middleman Sushen Gupta had provided classified documents to Dassault Aviation on the activities of the Indian negotiating team. The Enforcement Directorate has filed a charge sheet against Gupta in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.

"This includes offshore companies, dubious contracts, and false invoices. Mediapart may disclose that India's federal police force, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have accomplices in evidence to fight money laundering." Since October 2018, French aviation firm Dassault paid at least 7.5 million euros (equivalent to just Rs 650 million) in secret commission to middleman Sushen Gupta," Mediapart claimed in the report.

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"This was in the context of the French firm's long and ultimately successful effort to secure a 7.8 billion euro deal in 2016 to sell 36 of its Rafale fighter jets to India," it said.

BJP's National Information and Technology Department in-charge Amit Malviya hit out at the Congress, alleging that bribes were paid during the UPA regime.

"Dassault paid 14.6 million euros to sell Rafale to middleman Sushen Gupta in the period 2004-2013. So the UPA was taking bribes but could not close the deal? The NDA later scrapped it and went to the French government. Signed a contract with him, which upsets Rahul. Not the end of Gandhi," Malviya tweeted.

signed deal to purchase Rafale

The NDA government on September 23, 2016, signed a deal to purchase 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation after a nearly seven-year exercise to procure 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force. UPA rule.

The Congress accused the government of huge irregularities in the deal, alleging that it was buying each plane at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore, while the UPA government had finalized Rs 526 crore during talks for the MMRCA. (Middlemen in Rafale deal)

Meanwhile, the CBI, Ministry of Defence, Dassault Aviation are yet to comment on the claims and allegations made in the report of the French portal.

"This is how Indian spies learned that Sushen Gupta also acted as an intermediary for Dassault Aviation on the Rafale deal. His Mauritian company Interstellar Technologies received at least 7.5 million euros from the French aviation firm between 2007 and 2012. received, thanks to the IT contracts. were clearly overbilled, and most of which money was allegedly sent to Mauritius using a system of false invoicing. Some of these invoices even had the name of the French company wrong, which referred instead to 'Dassault Aviation'," the portal reported.

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