Rafale deal row: French NGO files complaint against Dassault

Agencies

November 24, 2018

Paris, Nov 24: French non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sherpa has filed a complaint against aviation giant Dassault to clarify the conditions under which the Rafale deal was made with India in 2016.

The complaint, which has been lodged with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, further sought details over Dassault's choice to have Reliance group as a partner.

The complaint was lodged on October 26 this year and it "follows the complaint lodged on the 4th of October 2018 by a former Indian Minister and an anti-corruption lawyer with the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi, against the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "abuse of authority" and "grant of undue advantages" in connection with the sale of Rafale, and the facts revealed by Mediapart and Sherpa's investigation," according to an official press release of Sherpa.

"Anil Ambani, Narendra Modi's close associate, Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, and the former Indian Minister of Defense Manohar Parrikar have also been targeted in the complaint filed in New Delhi for 'complicity'," said Sherpa while referring to a complaint filed by former ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, and Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan on October 4 in New Delhi.

"Sherpa expects the National Public Prosecutor's Office to promptly investigate the seriousness of the facts and the presumptions on the reported offences: potential corruption, grant of undue advantages, trading in influence, complicity of these offences, concealment of corruption and laundering of these offences," the statement further mentioned.

Founder of Sherpa William Bourdon said, "France cannot do less than India. Cooperation between both countries should be rapidly established, as it is always the case with international grand corruption investigation. Moreover, the hearing of great witnesses is possible and desirable."

However, serious doubts regarding Sherpa's credibility have risen as reports accusing the French NGO chief's involvement in "meddling in African politics" have surfaced on International Policy Digest. The website has laid grave charges against Bourdon and alleged that the NGO is notorious for "destroying the reputation of (specifically) large-scale and vulnerable companies to gain "media attention and funds" in exchange".

Despite the claims, Sherpa's announcement of the filed complaint comes at a time when the Rafale deal controversy has been on the boil.

On November 14 this year, India's Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on the filed petitions that demanded a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal in which the Indian government bought 36 ready-to-fly jets in a government-to-government deal with France.

Leaders in the Indian opposition have been alleging irregularities in the high-profile deal, with main opposition party Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently challenging Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in a debate over the details of the deal.

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With highest single-day spike of 40,425 cases, India's COVID-19 tally crosses 11 lakh mark

News Network

July 20,2020

New Delhi, Jul 20: India's COVID-19 case tally crossed the 11 lakh mark with the highest single-day spike of 40,425 new cases and 681 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Monday.

Total cases in the country now stand at 11,18,043 while the death toll is 27,497.
The Health Ministry said the total number of cases includes 3,90,459 active cases and 7,00,087 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3,10,455 cases reported until Sunday.
Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,40,47,908 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 19, of these 2,56,039 samples were tested yesterday.

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India would not discriminate among religions, we are not a theocratic country like Pakistan: Rajnath Singh

News Network

January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Indian values consider all religions equal, and that is why the country is secular and never became a theocratic state like Pakistan.

Speaking at the NCC Republic Day Camp in Delhi, Singh said: "We (India) said we would not discriminate among religions. Why did we do that? Our neighbouring country has declared that their state has a religion. They have declared themselves a theocratic state. We didn't declare so."

"Even America is a theocratic country. India is not a theocratic country. Why? Because our saints and seers did not just consider the people living within our borders as part of the family, but called everyone living in the world as one family," the minister said.

Singh underlined that India had never declared its religion would be Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist and people of all religions could live here.

"They gave the slogan of 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' -- the whole world is one family. This message has gone to the whole world from here only," he added.

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Very thoughtful and eye-catching statement by Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh.

Sir, I kindly request you to convey this beautiful message to your Party’s comrades, who are deprived of this dosage for long times and are badly need of this.

Also, for those from your Party, who are, time and again, spitting the venomous rhetoric against Dalits, Muslims, Christians and others alike.

Yashwant Sinhaji is now doing a wonderful job in this regard.

You will also follow his suit for sure in the days to come; that’s what your honest statement indicates.

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Petrol, Diesel Prices Hiked For the 9th Straight Day despite fall in Crude Oil Rates

News Network

June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: On Monday, petrol and diesel prices across the country were raised for the ninth consecutive day by 48 paise and 59 paise, respectively.

Petrol price per litre was raised to Rs 76.26 in New Delhi, Rs 83.17 in Mumbai, Rs 79.96 in Chennai, Rs 79.17 in Hyderabad, Rs 78.73 in Bengaluru and Rs 78.10 in Kolkata.

Diesel price per litre was hiked to Rs 74.62 in New Delhi, Rs 73.21 in Mumbai, Rs 72.69 in Chennai, Rs 72.93 in Hyderabad, Rs 70.95 in Bengaluru and Rs 70.33 in Kolkata.

Since 7 June, after ending their 82-day hiatus in daily revision, state-owned oil marketing companies have increased petrol price by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.23 per litre.

These prices are close to levels last seen in October-November 2018 when international oil prices had spiked close to $80 per barrel. In October 2018, petrol price in Mumbai had crossed Rs 90-mark and in Delhi, it was around Rs 83 per litre.

Comparatively, on Monday, Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil prices, fell 2.3 percent to $37.84 a barrel over concerns of subdued demand for fuel as new coronavirus infections were reported in China and the US.

The present spike in fuel prices in India could be attributed to the fact that central and state governments, along with oil marketing companies are looking to make up for their loss in revenues due to the lockdown.

Last month, the central government had increased the excise duty on per litre of petrol by Rs 10 and per litre of diesel by Rs 13. Several state governments have also hiked their VAT or cess on fuel in the last month. In fact, now around 70 percent of the retail price of fuel is just some form of tax.

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