Former French air force official contradicts Congress on Rafale
Congress held a power-packed press conference on Rafale deal where it showed a piece of a document claiming it would "take the lid of Modi government's murky sweetheart deal in the Rafale Scam."
- New Delhi
- October 18, 2018
- UPDATED: October 18, 2018 00:02 IST
Earlier, the French journal Mediapart cited the alleged internal Dassault document to indicate that the offset partnership with Reliance was obligatory. Reuters file photo
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Congress flashed a piece of document, saying it would take the lid of Modi's government
- India Today spoke to former French air force official who first published these two documents
- Pagot doesn't think there was any corruption or favouritism in Rafale deal
Congress party on Wednesday held a power-packed press conference on Rafale deal where it showed a piece of document claiming it would "take the lid of Modi government's murky sweetheart deal in the Rafale Scam."
The press conference was addressed by party's communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and senior leaders including Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, where Congress spokespersons presented a dossier of
two documents from "minutes of the meetings between Dassault Aviation and two French trade unions".
Earlier French publication Mediapart also carried a news report quoting Dassault Aviation COO Loïk Segalen from one of these two documents without publishing the original document.
India Today has spoken to former French air force official and researcher Yves Pagot, who first published these two documents on his website Portail-Aviation.Com.
Talking to India Today from Paris over the phone, Pagot said, "In my personal opinion and going by the evidence which is available, I don't think there was any corruption or favouritism in Rafale deal."
Read | Another Dassault document givesfresh twist to Mediapart's Rafale story
Pagot pointed out that mention of the joint venture with Reliance could have been driven by the second part of the document which was missed by Mediapart and Congress party. "I don't understand as to why the second part of this first document has not been quoted. In this part, trade unions are complaining about the job loss due to work transfer to India, so maybe that's why," he said.
Pagot, who has retired from Air Force and is now active in research and academics said that he was surprised to read the reports of forced partnership in this deal because it would never work.
"I was shocked to read Mediapart's second report where they quoted an unpublished internal report from Dassault, because it wasn't an internal secret document, it was a trade union document," Pagot revealed.
Pagot said that he would not guess as to why a particular page from a presentation was quoted in French media which according to Pagot had "ambiguity in language", while another document from the same meeting held between Dassault and trade unions with a clearer language was overlooked.
According to Pagot, the second document which is from a presentation made before French trade union Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT) clearly reads that it was 'Make in India' which was "the inevitable consequence" of the deal and the joint venture with Reliance was created to attain this goal.
Pagot didn't comment as to why these facts were missing from the two series investigation of French publication Mediapart but said, "They are usually very good with their investigation but have been on the wrong side of politics around Dassault."
Pagot went further to advice the French publication to issue a clarification regarding their stories on Rafale. "I think they (Mediapart) should issue a clarification now," Pagot told India Today.
Asked if he was in anyway associated with Dassault, Pagot denied and said, "I don't have any commercial association with Rafale or Dassault, but I can tell you that it's a world-class fighter jet, the best in its class."
Asked about the politics around changing price tag of these jets and the offset money involved, Pagot said, "It's incredibly difficult to put a price tag here, it's like buying a house under different conditions, the more Rafales are bought, the more offsets would go back to India."
Earlier the Congress party's communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala quoted these very documents to allege "fresh documents have reinforced the fact that PM Modi facilitated a sweetheart deal to enormously and illegitimately benefit a crony friend i.e. Reliance Defence."
The Indian and French governments have maintained that while it was a government to government deal, Dassault was free to choose the offset partners.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/sto...radicts-congress-on-rafale-1370217-2018-10-18
