Rafale deal: PM Modi flouted defence ministry norms, states govt affidavit in SC

On the Rafael deal, the government has, itself, admitted that the announcement of this deal was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi without any procedure or prior discussion. This has been revealed by the affidavit filed by the Central Government in the Supreme Court. A copy of this affidavit has also been given to the petitioner.

The central government has acknowledged that PM Modi's announcement to buy 36 Rafael fighter aircraft was made before the process, which is necessary for the purchase of any defense equipment. The affidavit filed by the government on Monday in Supreme Court on the Rafale deal also indicates that neither the Air Force had demanded only 36 Rafale aircraft, nor was any discussion held with the the Air Force about this deal.

So, was this deal announced with some special purpose? And by doing so, was an effort made to benefit a particular industrialist? In the paragraph 23 of the affidavit filed by the government, the government has said that the acceptance of the requirement of 36 Rafale aircraft, ie Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), was given during the Defense Acquisition Council i.e. DAC meeting on May 13, 2015. This meeting was presided by the Defense Minister. It is worth noting that the approval of the AON, or Acceptance of Necessity, is the first step in the procurement process for purchasing any defense equipment or accessories, for which the approval by the DAC is necessary. It should also be noted here that procurement of any defense equipment or equipment cannot be announced without the approval of AON.

It can be understood in this way—the three parts of the army (Army, Air Force and Navy) prepare their list of their required equipment. But no purchase is done on the basis of this list only, unless it has AON, i.e. unless its approval is not obtained.

But, in the case of Rafale fighter jet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft before any clearance or approval. He announced the deal on April 10, 2015, in a joint press conference with then French President François Hollande.

So the question arises, why, after all, did PM Modi do that?

In conversation with the French news website Mediapart, Hollande had also said that Reliance was in a way imposed on them by the Modi government. In conversation with the AFP in Montreal, Hollande had repeated that the involvement of Anil Ambani in the deal was part of the new formula for Rafael Deal and it was decided after the Modi government came to power.

Now, the second part of the answer. That means PM Modi wanted Anil Ambani to be the offset partner of the company in the deal for making Rafael fighter jet, and he himself took the initiative for buying 36 aircraft.

But where was a scam in this? The straight answer is: in the price of the aircrafts.

The facts in this regard have been revealed by defence expert Ajai Shukla in his column for Business Standard on November 10.

He has written that the Modi government will give Dassault 7.85 billion euros for 36 Rafale aircraft. That means the average price of an aircraft will be around 217 million euros. This price is 40 per cent higher than that initial agreement which the UPA Government had almost finalised with Dassault. Under this deal 19.5 euros were to be paid for 126 Rafale fighter jets. That means the average price of an aircraft would have been around 155 million euros.

So, the real scam is in the pricing of the Rafale jets. The Modi government has entered into an agreement under which it will pay 40 per cent more for the aircraft.

Then the question arises, how will this extra money which the Government is paying to Dassault be returned? The possibility is that Dassault has invested 40 million euros in a joint venture with Anil Ambani. This is the same money which the Modi government is paying extra to Dassault. After this investment, Anil Ambani's loss-making company will get a profit of ₹284 crore.

How then the truth will come out?

It’s not difficult to bring out the truth, provided that the government agrees for an investigation by JPC and CAG. But this does not seem to happen. But yes, the case has reached the Supreme Court via CBI.

So, we should expect that, although it will be delayed but, this scam will definitely be exposed layer by layer. However, a case is definitely built against the Modi government on the basis of the affidavit the government itself had filed in the Supreme Court.