INC means I Need Commission: BJP hits out at Congress after Rafale report

New Delhi, Nov 09: A day after French portal Mediapart published a report on the alleged kickbacks paid in the Rafale deal, the BJP attacked the Congress over alleged corruption when it was in power before 2014.

The Congress on the other hand accused the BJP of a cover up on corruption after the report said that the CBI failed to investigate the allegations despite evidence.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said INC means 'I need Commission'. It would not be an over-projection that during the UPA tenure, they had a deal within every deal and they could still not strike a deal.

"The latest revelations in Operation Cover-up reveal the dubious nexus between (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi government-CBI-Enforcement Directorate to bury the Rafale Corruption," the Congress said.

Mediapart had claimed that fake invoices enabled French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation to at least 7.5 million Euros to middlemen in a bid to help it secure the Rs 59,000 crore deal with India for 36 Rafael fighter jets.

"It involves offshore companies, dubious contracts and 'false' invoices. Mediapart can reveal that detectives from India's federal police force, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), and colleagues from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which fights money laundering, have had proof since October 2018 that Dassault paid at least €7.5 million in secret commissions to middleman Sushen Gupta," the report said.

In April 2021, the same journal claimed that it was in possession of documents that showed Dassault and its industrial partner, Thales paid middleman Gupta several million Euros in secret commissions in connection with the Rafael deal.

The report in April said that the bulk of the payments were made before 2013."According to an accounts spreadsheet belonging to Sushen Gupta, an entity called simply 'D', which is a code he regularly used to designate Dassault, paid €14.6 million to Interdev in Singapore over the period 2004-2013," it further added.

(The documents cited by Mediapart have not been reviewed by OneIndia)