Congress presses for CAG audit of Rafale deal, meets auditor

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday urged the CAG to carry out a forensic audit of the “Rs 60,150 crore” Rafale fighter jet deal and bring all “facts” on record to enable Parliament to fix accountability for the alleged scam in the contract.
A delegation of Congress leaders met the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Rajiv Mehrishi — this was a second time within a month they met the central auditor over the Rafale deal — and presented a memorandum to him along with fresh documents.
The party had met the CAG on September 19 and thereafter the CVC on September 24 for a probe into the deal. Subsequent to the submissions made before the CAG earlier in the Rafale ‘scam’, the Congress alleged that documents and revelations made at the highest level in India and France have “exposed a deep rooted sinister conspiracy and a clear cut case of loss to public exchequer”.
“The Rafale Scam has now emerged as India’s Biggest ‘Defence Scam’. Skeletons are tumbling out of the closet everyday with repeated disclosures getting zero answers from the Defence Ministry. Infact, the only ‘Truth’ of this Government is ‘Subterfuge’.
The stench of ‘Corruption’ and ‘Cronyism’ in the Rafale Deal is nauseating, requiring urgent intervention,” the Congress memorandum said.
The party also alleged that the government is “unforgivably guilty” of causing loss to the public exchequer worth Rs 41,205 crore in the purchase of 36 ‘Made in France’ Rafale aircrafts, ‘off the shelf’ without ‘Transfer of Technology’.
It also alleged that in a classic case of blatant ‘crony capitalism’, private entity Reliance Defence was deliberately enriched by award of a Rs 30,000- crore offset contract at the cost of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.
“The above facts reflect a clear-cut case of loss to public exchequer and rampant corruption coupled with a concerted conspiracy of by-passing PSU, HAL.
It also reveals illegal and undue benefit to ‘crony friends’ by the highest echelons of power in the Modi Government, in the unilateral purchase of 36 Rafale Jets from Dassault Aviation i.e India’s biggest ever defence contract worth Rs 60,150 Crore,” it said. (PTI)