Dassault gave Rs 284 crore as kickback to Anil Ambani's loss-making firm, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that Anil Ambani's firm got Rs 284 crore as 'first tranche of kickbacks' from Dassault Aviation in the Rafale deal. In an open attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said that the Dassault CEO was lying to protect one man, and that man was running the country.

Gandhi based his allegations on Dassault handing the contract for 36 Rafale fighter jets to Reliance Defence at the expense of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), despite the fact that Anil Ambani-led company was not doing well.

"The Dassault CEO said that the reason HAL was not given the contract, and Anil Ambani was given the contract was because he had land. Now it turns out the land Anil Ambani has was purchased for him with the money he got from Dassault," Gandhi said.

"And for some reason Dassault gave Rs 284 crore to a loss making company with a valuation of Rs 8.30 lakh. This was one of the many tranches of money that Dassault had paid in kickback," he further said.

The Congress chief also linked the ongoing fiasco at Central Bureau of Intelligence with the Rafale deal. He alleged that the probe agency's chief Alok Verma was sacked because he was raising questions about the deal.

Gandhi also pointed a finger at the government's reservation towards revealing the actual price of the deal. "The government of India says that pricing is top secret. The Dassault annual report has the pricing in it, and it shows exactly how much the Indian government paid. French President Emmanuel Macron has clarified that price is not part of the secrecy agreements," Gandhi said.

Calling the case Rafale controversy an open and shut case, Gandhi said that if an enquiry starts on this, Modi is not going to survive that enquiry.

Edited by Vivek Punj