It sold them planes with false invoices How did France loot the Indians' money in the "Rafale" deal?

A new investigation by Mediapart into the scandal of selling French Rafale fighters to India reveals new details accusing its manufacturer, Dassault, of being involved in forging invoices and using fake companies to pay bribes. He published classified documents showing how the French company embezzled Indian government funds.

In 2016, the French and Indian defense ministers signed one of the largest arms contracts between the two countries, according to which India acquired 126 French “Rafale” planes manufactured by the state-owned aircraft company in India. ".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the terms of the contract so that only 36 Rafale fighters would be manufactured in France and sold to India for 7.8 billion euros, nearly 3 times the real value, supplied to the government by a company owned by a businessman close to the Prime Minister.

In 2018, the French website Mediapart exposed the case, publishing confidential documents proving that Dassault paid a sum of one million euros to a broker called Sushin Gupta, who was previously accused of money laundering in corruption cases related to the sale of helicopters to India. The amount then is under the heading "Gifts to Customers".

The scandal sparked public opinion in both countries, as Indians protested against the Modi government for what they saw as a waste of their public money. On the other hand, the Indian authorities rushed to bury the case, and the Indian Supreme Court considered that a full investigation was not necessary.

Seven million, not one!

The scandal of the "Rafale papers" continues to reveal its secrets since it was first revealed by the investigation team of the French website "Mediapart" in 2018. And here the same site returns to publish new details highlighting the process by which the French company, Dassault, which manufactures fighters, paid bribes. In order to pressure the Indian government to sign the deal.

Mediapart reports that the suspected Dassault broker, Sushin Gupta, received payments totaling 7.5 million euros from the French company, Dassault, between 2007 and 2012, when negotiations began between the company and the Indian government over the Rafale fighter deal. These payments were made through forged invoices with astronomical numbers issued by two fictitious companies owned by Gupta.

Dassault circumvented the law by using false invoices to purchase software from a bogus company based in Singapore, which was later found to be run by an agent for Gupta. After that, those sums were transferred from Singapore to another fictitious company owned by the broker in Mauritius as commissions he received for his role in pressuring the Indian government to acquire the aircraft. According to Mediapart, the total commissions transferred by Dassault in this way are 12.8 million euros.

On the other hand, the Attorney General of Mauritius submitted all these statements and invoices to the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation on October 11, 2018, but the latter chose to close the case and not pursue the investigation. The same office revealed that these forged invoices were drafted by Gupta's lawyer, who is also following up in the "helicopter sale deal" case, and samples of them were found in the lawyer's office computers.

Bribe and pressure

Dassault's employment of Sushin Gupta dates back to 2001, when there was first talk about the Indian government's intention to acquire combat aircraft. Since then, the broker has been conspiring with people close to the government in order for the tender to be settled in favor of the French factory.

And for this, Gupta paid bribes to Indian government officials, this is revealed by a secret correspondence revealed by “Mediapart”, in which he says: “We have been banned, you have a client and we paid the money, we have to make everything look legal and clean, without money there would be no A decision, and the officials are asking for money, if we don't pay them, they will throw us in prison."

Investigations revealed that in 2015, when the Rafale negotiations were in their final stages, Sushin Gupta had access to confidential documents from the Indian Ministry of Defense about the number and prices of the aircraft it wanted to acquire.