Congress asks CVC to file case over Rafale

New Delhi: A delegation of 11 senior Congress leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, met the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) on Monday and demanded registration of a case as well as the seizure of relevant documents pertaining to the alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal. The delegation submitted a detailed memorandum, accusing the government of fixing the deal at an “escalated price of about 300 per cent” and violating the Defence Procurement Policy (DPP).

The meeting with the CVC comes days after an-other Congress delegation met the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and urged it to prepare a report on the alleged irregularities in the fighter jet plane deal and present it in Parliament.

“Rafale scam has now emerged as India’s biggest defence scam. Tracks of corruption are getting unravelled by the day with repeated disclosures getting no answers from the defence ministry of the government of the day. The stench of corruption and cronyism in the Rafale deal is nauseating, requiring urgent intervention by your goodself,” the memorandum said.

As per the law, the memorandum said, the government is bound to provide full information to the CVC, “entire deal, its contours, nature of contract, absence of favouritism, corruption, crony capitalism, violation of law and procedures and the principles of level playing field are part of CVC’s domain to examine and to return a finding”. The Congress, in the memorandum, also referred to the revelations made by former French President Francois Hollande and said he has “exposed the web of corruption”.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting with the CVC, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi asserted that the government has no answers to various questions concerning the deal and no one is telling why the whole procedure took place in a reverse order. He added, “Why was a contract of Rs 30,000 crore given to a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy? How can they sideline a company like HAL?”

PM Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with the then French President Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris.

Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “We have urged the CVC to take cognisance of the memorandum submitted by us and we urged CVC to seal all files and documents and register an FIR.”

Terming it as the century’s “biggest scam”, he said the decision of the deal was taken by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security was not informed about it.

“We told the CVC that no one was informed about the decision, including the defence chief, HAL chief or Air Force chief. The cost has been increased by 300 per cent and it is clear from (then French President Francois) Hollande and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s joint statement that it is the same aircraft that was going to be initially purchased. We expect the CVC to take cognisance of it,” he told reporters after the meeting.