The Ministry of Defense has not yet provided any information on the price and agreement for the purchase of the Raphael aircraft: CAG

New delhi date. Saturday 22 August 2020

Eight months after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audited the Modi government's performance on defense offset agreements, it did not mention anything related to the Raphael aircraft purchased from the French company.

The government is yet to submit the report to Parliament. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) denied the auditor any information related to the Raphael offset deal. The MOD has informed the federal auditor that Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer of Raphael, has said it will share any details of its offset partners only after three years of the contract.

Last month, India received its first set of five Rafale fighter jets from France. In the Rs 59,000 crore deal for 36 aircraft, Dassault Aviation agreed to provide all fighter aircraft in flight-down condition between 36 and 67 months from the date of signing the intergovernmental agreement in 2016. Is.

The CAG reviewed only 12 defense offset agreements in its performance audit report submitted to the government in December 2019. In the 2019 general election, the Rafale deal sparked much controversy with the main opposition Congress. In which Anil Ambani appointed the group's Reliance Defense as its partner, and demanded a CBI probe into Dassault Aviation's terms. The government did not make a statement about the agreement.

The plane chapter was buried in the land of Delhi

Between 2012-13 and 2017-18, Rafal signed 32 defense offset agreements with the IAF, Navy and Army, including deals. It has now surfaced that the auditor then closed its audit plan for 12 offset contracts and removed the long-awaited Raphael offset deal after being notified by the MOD. His report was to be tabled in Parliament and could be investigated by a member of the opposition. But now everything is closed and the chapter is buried in the land of Delhi.