Didn't have a say in choosing Ambani for Rafale deal: Hollande
September 21, 2018 19:02
Former French President Francois Hollande has claimed that his government "did not have a say" in choosing Anil Ambani's company for the Rafale deal with India, the French publication Mediapart reported on Friday.
In an interview to the publication, Hollande said that it was the Indian government that had proposed the name of Ambani's Reliance Defence for the pact, which was agreed upon when he was president.
He also denied any connection of the deal with a film by his partner Julie Gayet. A media report had claimed last month that Ambani's Reliance Entertainment had signed an agreement with Gayet to produce a film two days before Hollande attended Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi in 2016. During that visit, Hollande signed a memorandum of understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver 36 Rafale aircraft to India.
The Indian government has claimed all along that it did not have anything to do with French company Dassault's decision to work with Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence to carry out the offset obligations in the Rafale deal.
The Opposition, led by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has however claimed that an earlier deal which envisioned Dassault working with Indian state manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was scrapped to "benefit Modi's industrialist friend".
On September 23, 2016, India and France signed a deal under which New Delhi would procure 36 Rafale aircraft worth Rs 59,000 crore from Paris.
Later that year, Reliance Defence joined the offset programme of the Rafale deal through Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd, in which it holds a 51 per cent stake. Dassault Aviation, which manufactured the jets, owns 49 per cent. Reliance and Dassault announced a joint venture in India in October 2016
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