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Modi hiked benchmark price of Rafale deal from euro 5.2 bn to 8.2 bn: Congress
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SME Times News Bureau | 04 Jan, 2019
Claiming "fresh revelations" in the Rafale fighter jet deal, the
Congress on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi increased
the benchmark price of the deal from euro 5.2 billion to 8.2 billion,
resulting in a loss to the exchequer.
"Fresh revelations further
expose brazen corruption practices in Rafale deal. The entire spectrum
of deception lies at the doorstep of the Prime Minister, who overruled
the objections raised and recorded by the 'Negotiations Team' in Rafale
deal," the party said ahead of the resumption of the debate on the deal
in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Addressing a press conference in
Parliament, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Nabi
Azad said: "The Modi government has gone to the extent of even
submitting false affidavits to mislead the Supreme Court to hide the
truth of the Rafale scam. This kind of government should be terminated."
Attacking the Modi government, he said the country has now understood how big the Rafale scam is.
"The
Modi government is doing everything in its might to hide it," Azad
said. "Therefore, we have always believed that JPC (Joint Parliamentary
Committee) is the only appropriate medium to look into the matter."
Accusing
the BJP-led government of increasing the benchmark price of the Rafale
deal, he said: "The Prime Minister increased the 'Benchmark Price' from
from euro 5.2 billion to euro 8.2 billion." Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Mallikarjuna Kharge accused Modi of lying to Parliament and the Supreme Court.
Kharge
said: "They submitted false affidavits regarding CAG (Comptroller and
Auditor General) report and is claiming to have got a clean chit from
Supreme Court.
"Those who are defending the Prime MInister are lying," he said.
Congress
spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also slammed the Prime Minister
and said that fresh revelations further expose the brazen corrupt
practices in the Rafale deal.
"The entire spectrum of deception
lies at the doorstep of the Prime Minister, who overruled the objections
raised and recorded by raised by the 'Negotiations Team' in Rafale
deal," Surjewala said.
Hitting out at Modi over the "increased
benchmark" price, the Congress leader said: "This fact was also
confirmed in November 2018 by Sudhanshu Mohanty, Head of Finance,
Ministry of Defence (uptil May 2016), who spilled the beans and indicted
the Modi government."
He claimed that till date the Prime
Minister or Defence Minister (Niramala Sitharaman) did not contradict
the statement of Mohanty.
Surjewala also accused Modi of waiving
the 'Advance and Performance Bank Guarantee and Sovereign Guarantee'
and said: "Objections on the Defence Ministry file reads no advance and
performance bank guarantee has been obtained from Dassault Aviation and
the advance payments made prior to delivery are not secured."
Showing
the documents, Surjewala claimed that on December 9, 2015, the Law
Ministry flagged the issue of 'no bank guarantee/sovereign guarantee' by
the French government and noted the concern that the deal involves huge
payout from public exchequer without actual delivery in form of advance
payments.
"On March 7, 2016, then Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar refused to opine or accept the 'Letter of Comfort' in lieu of
the 'Bank-French Government Guarantee," Surjewala said.
He also
said that on August 18, 2016, the Air Acquisition Wing of the Defence
Ministry put up a note stating that bank guarantees may be insisted from
France as required and the Indian side may bear bank guarantee charges.
"On August 23, 2016, Law Ministry again reiterated to the
Defence Ministry about requirement of 'French Government-Sovereign
Guarantee' as a condition of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). And on
August 24, 2016 i.e. the very next day, PM Modi, in Cabinet Committee
on Security (CCS), accepts the 'Letter of Comfort' and waives off the
condition of 'Bank Guarantee/French Government Sovereign Guarantee," he
said.
Surjewala also alleged that Modi ignored that 'maintenance
terms and conditions' that read "the maintenance terms and conditions
including PBG (Performance Based Guarantee) of 36 Rafale IGA was not
better than that of 126 MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) Rafale
bid.
He said that the file reads: "The delivery schedule of 36 Rafale IGA was not better than that of 126 MMRCA bid."
"The Prime Minister proceeded despite delivery delays, comprising national security preparedness."
He
highlighted that the objections on the Defence Ministry file said that
as per the prices reflected in Dassault's financial results, it had sold
Rafale at a cheaper rate to Qatar and Egypt as compared to India.
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