Accusing Dassault Aviation’s CEO of lying when he claimed that the company had chosen Anil Ambani’s Reliance as offset partner for the Rafale deal because it had land available near an airfield in Nagpur, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the French aviation major had paid Rs 284 crore to a Reliance firm as first tranche of alleged “kickbacks”, which was used to purchase the land, a charge strongly denied by the Reliance group.
Accusing Dassault Aviation’s CEO of lying when he claimed that the company had chosen Anil Ambani’s Reliance as offset partner for the Rafale deal because it had land available near an airfield in Nagpur, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the French aviation major had paid Rs 284 crore to a Reliance firm as first tranche of alleged “kickbacks”, which was used to purchase the land, a charge strongly denied by the Reliance group.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Reliance accused the Congress of “once again” resorting to “blatant lies and distorted facts to mount an unwarranted campaign of calumny and falsehoods against the Reliance Group and its chairman Anil Ambani personally”.
Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said Modi is having “sleepless nights”, fearing action if the Rafale deal is investigated. “If an inquiry starts on this (Rafale deal), Modi is not going to survive it, guaranteed,” he said while addressing the media at the Congress headquarters here.
On Thursday, the website The Wire had reported that Dassault Aviation had made an investment of approximately 40 million euros in an Anil Ambani venture in 2017. It said public filings by Reliance Infrastructure showed that it sold a 34.7-per cent stake in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) to Dassault Aviation in 2017-18.
According to the report, Reliance had said it made a profit of Rs 284.19 crore on the sale of 24,83,923 shares, with face value of Rs 10 each.
Rahul said: “The Dassault CEO said the reason HAL [state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited] was not given a contract, and Anil Ambani was given, was because Anil Ambani had land. Now it turns out that the land Anil Ambani had was purchased for him with money he got from Dassault, and for some reason which is hard to understand. Dassault gave Rs 284 crore to a loss-making company with a valuation of Rs 8.3 lakh…so this is one of the many tranches of money that Dassault has paid in kickback.”
Reacting to Rahul’s claims, the Reliance Infrastructure Ltd said in a statement that the “payment for the land at Mihan, Nagpur, was made from 2015 to 2017, much before the investment by Dassault in RADL.” The statement said the Congress has “falsely alleged” that funds invested in RADL have been used for purchase of land for the Dassault-Reliance joint venture.
Reliance stated: “Investment by Dassault Aviation in RADL, to acquire 34.8 per cent equity stake for Rs 309 crore, was made by way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in September 2017 —- nearly 14 months ago —- in a transparent manner and in full compliance of applicable laws, keeping in view the management and development of Airport Infrastructure at five locations by RADL.”
It said, “Reliance Infrastructure applied for land at Mihan in August 2015. Land was allotted in January 2016 and all payments for the above land were made between August 2015 to July 2017…. To allege that Dassault investment in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) was used to pay for this land is factually incorrect and preposterous. We repeat it is a blatant lie to state that land at Mihan was bought from funds provided by Dassault. The investment by Dassault in RADL and purchase of land by Reliance Infra for setting up a manufacturing facility for the joint venture are two different and independent/standalone transactions.
“The transaction relating to purchase of land was completed well before the investment by Dassault in RADL.”
But alleging that the Dassault CEO was lying to protect Prime Minister Modi, Rahul asked, “Why would anybody invest Rs 284 crore in a Rs 8.3-lakh company? Why have they invested in this company, and then that money has been used to buy the land and Dassault CEO is saying that the reason we gave the contract was that he had land. Well, you bought him the land. So you lied.”
The Reliance stated that the group and its chairman, Anil Ambani, are continuously being dragged into a political battle in view of the impending state and Lok Sabha elections.
It said the “RADL transaction was completed in full compliance with applicable FDI and all other rules and regulations and the information has been disclosed in the public domain since December 2017 onwards, nearly a year ago.” Investment by Dassault Aviation was made at fair value arrived at by an independent expert as per RBI guidelines, it added.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Reliance accused the Congress of “once again” resorting to “blatant lies and distorted facts to mount an unwarranted campaign of calumny and falsehoods against the Reliance Group and its chairman Anil Ambani personally”.
Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said Modi is having “sleepless nights”, fearing action if the Rafale deal is investigated. “If an inquiry starts on this (Rafale deal), Modi is not going to survive it, guaranteed,” he said while addressing the media at the Congress headquarters here.
On Thursday, the website The Wire had reported that Dassault Aviation had made an investment of approximately 40 million euros in an Anil Ambani venture in 2017. It said public filings by Reliance Infrastructure showed that it sold a 34.7-per cent stake in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) to Dassault Aviation in 2017-18.
According to the report, Reliance had said it made a profit of Rs 284.19 crore on the sale of 24,83,923 shares, with face value of Rs 10 each.
Rahul said: “The Dassault CEO said the reason HAL [state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited] was not given a contract, and Anil Ambani was given, was because Anil Ambani had land. Now it turns out that the land Anil Ambani had was purchased for him with money he got from Dassault, and for some reason which is hard to understand. Dassault gave Rs 284 crore to a loss-making company with a valuation of Rs 8.3 lakh…so this is one of the many tranches of money that Dassault has paid in kickback.”
Reacting to Rahul’s claims, the Reliance Infrastructure Ltd said in a statement that the “payment for the land at Mihan, Nagpur, was made from 2015 to 2017, much before the investment by Dassault in RADL.” The statement said the Congress has “falsely alleged” that funds invested in RADL have been used for purchase of land for the Dassault-Reliance joint venture.
Reliance stated: “Investment by Dassault Aviation in RADL, to acquire 34.8 per cent equity stake for Rs 309 crore, was made by way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in September 2017 —- nearly 14 months ago —- in a transparent manner and in full compliance of applicable laws, keeping in view the management and development of Airport Infrastructure at five locations by RADL.”
It said, “Reliance Infrastructure applied for land at Mihan in August 2015. Land was allotted in January 2016 and all payments for the above land were made between August 2015 to July 2017…. To allege that Dassault investment in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) was used to pay for this land is factually incorrect and preposterous. We repeat it is a blatant lie to state that land at Mihan was bought from funds provided by Dassault. The investment by Dassault in RADL and purchase of land by Reliance Infra for setting up a manufacturing facility for the joint venture are two different and independent/standalone transactions.
“The transaction relating to purchase of land was completed well before the investment by Dassault in RADL.”
But alleging that the Dassault CEO was lying to protect Prime Minister Modi, Rahul asked, “Why would anybody invest Rs 284 crore in a Rs 8.3-lakh company? Why have they invested in this company, and then that money has been used to buy the land and Dassault CEO is saying that the reason we gave the contract was that he had land. Well, you bought him the land. So you lied.”
The Reliance stated that the group and its chairman, Anil Ambani, are continuously being dragged into a political battle in view of the impending state and Lok Sabha elections.
It said the “RADL transaction was completed in full compliance with applicable FDI and all other rules and regulations and the information has been disclosed in the public domain since December 2017 onwards, nearly a year ago.” Investment by Dassault Aviation was made at fair value arrived at by an independent expert as per RBI guidelines, it added.