Anil Ambani given tax waiver of ₹1,052 Crore by the French Govt

In a sensational report French newspaper Le Monde reveals that a company owned by Anil Ambani in France was given a waiver of more than 143.7 million Euros (1,119 Crore Indian Rupees approximately) in taxes. This followed Prime Minister Modi’s new Rafale deal and Dassault deciding on a two-week old Anil Ambani company to be its offset partner.

The report reveals that the French Government accepted a payment of just 7.3 million Euros (57 Crore Indian Rupees approximately) by way of settlement from Anil Ambani.

Julien bouissou‏, South Asia correspondent of Le Monde in a series of tweets provided a summary of the report published in the French newspaper:

• Anil Ambani has a telecom company registered in France called "Reliance Atlantic Flag France".
• The company was investigated by French tax authorities and found liable to pay 60 million euros in taxes for the period 2007 to 2010.
• Reliance offered to pay 7.6 million euros as a settlement. The French tax authorities refused. They conducted another investigation for the period 2010 to 2012 and asked for an additional 91 million euros in taxes
• In April 2015, PM Modi announced plans to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault. By then, the total amount owed by Reliance to the French state in taxes was at least 151 million euros.
• Six months after Modi's Rafale announcement, the French tax authorities accepted 7.3 million euros from Reliance as a settlement, instead of the much bigger sum of 151 million euros.
• So, between February and October 2015, while the French were negotiating the Rafale contract with India, Anil Ambani enjoyed a tax waiver of 143,7 million euros from the French state. Quite a cozy deal, right?
• We have decided not to run an English version because we dont want to be responsible for any translation error in a piece where every word matters. (you know how good the French are at english ...)

The disclosure is revealing because Prime Minister Modi had unilaterally changed the terms for the supply of 126 Rafale fighter jets to the Indian Air Force.

• He had reduced the number of jets from 126 to 36
• He dumped public sector HAL as offset partner, which would have also manufactured the planes in India
• He imposed the Anil Ambani promoted company as Dassault’s Indian offset partner.