Kickbacks in Rafale deal: French portal Mediapart
French online news portal Mediapart, which has been pursuing the cover-up in France of the misdeeds in the Rafale deal with India, on Thursday reported that Sushen Gupta, a defence dealer under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate for money laundering in the AgustaWestland chopper scam, received “kickbacks” to influence the purchase of the 36 aircraft in flyaway condition.
Citing the ED investigation, which said Gupta also “received kickbacks” to influence the result of “other defence deals”, the Mediapart report states it has information that one such deal is “the inter-governmental agreement signed in 2016 for the 7.8-billion-euro sale by France to India of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft, built by Dassault Aviation’’.
