‘Dictated Interviews’ and ‘Manufactured Lies’: Congress rejects Dassault's defence

New Delhi, Nov 13: Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Tuesday dubbed Dassault CEO Eric Trappier interview as "dictated" and said, "Manufactured lies can not suppress the Rafale scam."

The nation needs a "fair investigation" and not "doctored explanations" on the fighter jet deal, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

He was responding to Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier's defence of the contract in a media interview. Trappier has claimed no wrong-doing in the Rs 58,000 crore deal asserting it was a "clean deal".

Minutes Dassault CEO's exclusive interview to ANI, Surjewala took to twitter and posted "First rule of Law - Mutual Beneficiaries and Co-accused's statements hold no value. Second Rule: Beneficiaries and Accused can't be Judge in their own case. Truth has a way of coming out."

Trappier rubbished allegations made by Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi that the former lied about the details of the Dassault- Reliance Joint Venture (JV) for offset contracts in the Rafale Jet deal.

"I don't lie. The truth I declared before and the statements I made are true. I don't have a reputation of lying. In my position as CEO, you don't lie," said Trappier when asked to respond to Rahul Gandhi's charge that Dassault was covering up for possible cronyism in awarding the offset deal to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group.

Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference on November 2, alleged that Dassault invested Rs 284 crore in a loss-making company promoted by Anil Ambani which was used to procure land in Nagpur. "It is clear the Dassault CEO is lying.If an inquiry starts on this Modi is not going to survive it. Guaranteed," added Gandhi.

Speaking to ANI in the Dassault hangar housed in Istres-Le Tube Air base located North of the French city of Marseille, Dassault's CEO Eric Trappier said that they had prior experience dealing with the Congress party and the comments made by the Congress president made him sad.

The Rafale deal has run into controversy in India; the Congress has alleged that businessman Anil Ambani benefitted unduly from it, and that the Narendra Modi government was overpaying for the fighter jets.