Upping the ante on the Rafale deal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged here on Friday that French aircraft manufacturer Dassault gave a ₹-284-crore “kickback” to a loss-making company of Reliance’s Anil Ambani.

Denying the allegations, a Reliance Infrastructure Ltd spokesperson said the names of the company and its Chairman are being continuously dragged into a political battle in view of the State and General elections. “The Congress Party has once again resorted 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,” a statement from the Reliance said.

Earlier, addressing reporters, Rahul Gandhi said according to the Dassault CEO, the reason HAL was not given a contract was because Anil Ambani had land. “Now it turns out that the land which Anil Ambani had was purchased for him with money that he got from Dassault. Dassault gave ₹284 crore to a loss-making company with a valuation of ₹8,30,000 and so this is one of the many tranches of money that Dassault has paid in kickback,” Gandhi alleged.

He alleged Rafale is an open-and-shut case and only two persons — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani —are the beneficiaries of the deal. “Why is the Dassault CEO lying? Who is he protecting? There is only one person Dassault CEO is protecting and that is the person who runs this country, PM Narendra Modi,” Rahul Gandhi added. “This is clear cut 100 per cent, ₹284 crore has gone into this man’s accountand for absolutely no logical reason other than a kickback,” he said.

He said the CBI Chief was examining the Rafale papers. “It is obvious that there is enough material in the public domain to nail Modi, and so the CBI Chief was removed. So, clearly it is a cover-up taking place,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi maintained that price cannot be part of a secret agreement. “Nobody other than Modi took this decision (to buy aircrafts),” he claimed. “The CCS was held after the deal was signed and after Modi came back. So, if an enquiry starts on this, Modi is not going to survive that enquiry, guaranteed,” he said.

Reliance said Dassault’s investment in Reliance Airport Developers Limited (RADL) has no link with the Rafale contract between the Government of India and France, where all 36 aircraft are to be exported from France. “This investment is an independent arms-length transaction based on fair market valuation of the land and other assets of the company, and the business potential in the airports and related infrastructure sector,” it said.

It added that the RADL transaction was in full compliance with FDI rules and regulations, and the information has been disclosed in the public domain since December 2017. “The Congress party has falsely alleged that the funds invested in RADL have been used for the purchase of land at Mihan, Nagpur for the Dassault-Reliance 49:51 JV,” the statement added.

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