CONG WANTS CAG TO PROBE RAFALE DEAL

A Congress delegation led by senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday submitted an 8page memorandum to Comptroller and Auditor General of India Rajiv Mehrishi for a probe into Prime Minister Modi's unilateral purchase of 36 Rafale jets from French firm Dassault Aviation.

It said the CAG should probe the loss to the public exchequer for which it is mandated, as also other issues like bypassing public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), benefiting crony friends and violating the mandatory provisions of the Defence Procurement Procedure.

The memorandum said the Modi Government is guilty of compromising both national interest and national security by sudden shelving of the deal to buy the combat aircraft. Then, it resorted to a shoddy cover-up and told deliberate lies that have caused grave apprehensions in the minds of the people about a major defence deal.

"Insurmountable loss caused to public exchequer stands exposed as the Government refuses to ‘state the truth’, as also place facts in public domain. Modi Government remains ‘opaque’, ‘intransient’, ‘obscure’ & ‘obstinate’ in its efforts to cover up the ‘Rafale Scam’," the memorandum said.

The Congress has annexed 17 documents to substantiate its case of a suspected scam in the way the Modi government went about purchasing the same Rafale aircraft which the previous UPA government had contracted but at a price three times more.