Rafale deal controversy

The Rafale deal controversy is a theme in the politics of India that received public attention mainly between 2014 and 2018. It results from allegations of unethical behaviour related to the purchase of 36 Rafale multirole combat aircraft by the Indian Ministry of Defence from France's Dassault Aviation for a price estimated at €7.87 billion (₹58,891 Crore). The origin of the deal lies in the Indian MRCA competition, a multi-billion dollar contract to supply 126 multi-role combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) with a transfer of technology.

On 14 December 2018, the Supreme Court of India upheld the Rafale deal, stating that neither irregularities nor corruption have been found. The Supreme Court delivered the final legal judgement on 14 November 2019, dismissing all petitions for a review of its December 2018 judgement. In June 2021 a French judge was appointed to lead a judicial investigation into alleged corruption and favoritism in the deal.

According to a media report, the Indian government had de facto declined a formal request for international cooperation to probe allegations of suspected corruption, influence peddling and favouritism. Reference was made to a diplomatic note dated 25 July 2023, by Emmanuel Lenain, the French Ambassador to India, highlighting difficulties in getting collaborating on criminal cases from India in general. The ambassador had noted, "Many cases are handled by our Indian partners with very long delays, often in an incomplete manner." An earlier report cited instances by both the Indian and French government to create hurdles in the corruption investigation.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.