Bengaluru: No corruption in Rafale deal, say experts from Defence, PSUs

Bengaluru: A seminar on Rafale and national security, organised by the Citizens for Democracy, Bengaluru, on Saturday summarily dismissed allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal.

Experts from the forces, PSUs and private industry took part in the seminar. The list of speakers included Air Marshal B.K. Murali (retd), AVM S.S. Lahiri, Asst. Chief of Air Staff (retd) S. Ravi, Former Executive Director (Defence), BEML, Ashok Saxena, former Managing Director, HAL, Mohan Nadgir and former Executive Director, HAL, Sujit Pant.

Mr Saxena spoke about the requirement of Rafale, considering the enemies India has been facing across her borders on two fronts.

AVM Lahiri mentioned that each of the aircraft was evaluated on 600 parameters. He also defended the Indian government’s decision from the perspective of defence offsets. He said the IAF is committed to defend the country and IAF favouring the Rafale deal speaks volumes about the clear and clean intentions.

Referring to the Supreme Court judgement on the Rafale deal, Mr Sujit Pant pointed out how some of the useless airborne equipment were bought by the previous governments at high rates, when the country lacked well-laid procurement processes.

Mr S. Ravi categorically rejected the claims of corruption, supported his argument with facts and figures. He spoke about the price different countries have paid for Rafale aircraft: Qatar bought Rafales at $292 million ppu, with an extensive training maintenance and weapons package, but without offsets or workshare. Egypt bought Rafales for $246 million ppu and India paid $243 million, with a less extensive package than Qatar, but with 50% offsets and significant India-specific modifications.