It reflects poorly on the Indian government that it is not prepared to reopen the case of alleged corruption in the controversial Rafale fighter aircraft deal following fresh revelations. In the meanwhile, France has commenced an investigation into the case and a judge has been appointed to lead an investigation into the alleged graft and favouritism in the 7.8 billion Euro sale to India of 36 fighter aircraft. On the contrary, a puerile and preposterous argument has been put forward by a BJP national spokesman contending why the government should order a probe simply because the French government has done so. It is precisely for this reason that the serious allegation of blatant corruption involving men in the highest offices for one of the country’s biggest defence deals needs to be investigated. BJP’s logic puts the Indian government’s credentials for probity and transparency under a cloud. For, it tends to create the impression that the French government values integrity in public affairs and it doesn’t hesitate to probe grave allegations. On the other hand, the government of India – the source of the deal that spawned the alleged corruption – is stonewalling even demands for a probe. It certainly goes to the credit of the French government that it did not shy away from investigation simply because the allegations are directed against the country’s former President François Hollande whose finance and economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, is now the country’s President.
A key minister of the Narendra Modi Cabinet has even tried to belittle the Opposition’s demand for a probe on the ground that the Supreme Court had earlier dismissed petitions for such a probe. As is the tendency of government functionaries, the minister dished out half truths about the apex court verdict. Justice KM Joseph, one of the three judges of the bench constituted to deal with review petitions, ruled the main verdict would not impact any independent inquiry into the allegations of corruption after approval is taken under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. But, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not yet registered any FIR. It is not very difficult to understand the reasons behind the hesitation of the CBI to act in this case. The apex court once quite rightly dubbed the CBI a ‘caged parrot’ for working in many cases as a puppet in the government’s hand. Then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the bench, recently declined to comment on the French government’s latest order on the probe. He is now a Rajya Sabha MP, made on the recommendation of the BJP soon after his retirement. His appointment had jolted people’s faith in the sanctity of the constitutionally-approved separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive.
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The French government has ordered the probe in the wake of a series of investigative reports published by Mediapart in April about the deal, including the role of a middleman whose disclosures India’s Enforcement Directorate is reportedly aware of but has not, so far, investigated. Following the reports, the French anti-corruption NGO Sherpa filed a complaint with the tribunal of Paris, citing ‘corruption,’ ‘influence peddling,’ ‘money laundering,’ ‘favouritism’ and ‘undue tax waivers’ surrounding the deal. Interestingly, the former head of the French tribunal had gone against the advice of one of her staff in 2019 and dismissed an initial complaint filed by Sherpa. The reason she cited to justify her decision was “to preserve the interests of France.” Besides other aspects, the criminal investigation will examine questions surrounding the actions of former French President Hollande, who was in office when the Rafale deal was signed, his economy and finance minister Macron and then defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, now Macron’s minister of foreign affairs. The investigation will be led by an independent judge.
It is only natural that the Opposition, Congress and the CPI-M, have once again demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe to unravel the truth about the deal. Even when the government was touting the apex court verdict dismissing the petitions for probe as vindication of its claim that there was no wrongdoing, the Opposition stated that only a JPC probe can unearth facts and that it is beyond the purview of the Supreme Court to go into various aspects, including pricing of the aircraft.
The government’s argument that the Opposition with its probe demand is only playing into the hands of corporate rivalry in France is ludicrous, to say the least. The BJP spokesman could not even name one such rival. It is time the government cleared the air without delay since the Prime Minister’s name has been dragged into the controversy. The fact that the Congress had made this issue its major poll plank and lost the elections in 2019, as has been stated by a Union minister, is no proof that the allegations are unfounded.
