The Comptroller and Auditor General is looking into alleged irregularities in the Rafale fighter jet deal, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of compromising national security and causing a massive loss to the public exchequer by signing the deal.
Bhambre also said the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered four cases of corruption in defence deals since 2015, PTI reported.
Bhambre refused to share more information citing national security considerations and a confidentiality agreement with France.
The deal with France
India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 to buy 36 Rafale jets, which are scheduled to be delivered by September 2019. Dassault Aviation manufactures the aircraft.
On March 9, the Congress claimed that the Rafale deal had caused the public exchequer a loss of Rs 12,632 crore. The Opposition party, quoting from Dassault Aviation’s annual report, said the company had sold each jet to India for Rs 1,670.7 crore in 2016 while it had sold the same jets to Qatar and Egypt for Rs 1,319.8 crore the year before.
A week later, Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleged that the deal had caused a loss of Rs 36,000 crore.
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