A recent French media report had accused the country’s authorities of failing to act on the suspicions surrounding the deal. A French judge has been tasked with investigating the controversial 2016 multi-billion-dollar sale of Rafale fighter jets to India on "corruption" suspicions, the French national financial prosecutors' office (PNF) said on Friday. The 7.8-billion-euro ($9.3-billion) deal for 36 planes between the Government of India and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault has long been mired in corruption allegations. The PNF had intially refused to investigate the sale, prompting French investigative website Mediapart to accuse it and the French Anti-corruption Agency of "burying" suspicions surrounding the September 2016 deal. Mr. Hollande said there was no conflict of interest, saying France had not had any say in who Dassault's Indian partner was.

Source: The Hindu July 02, 2021 21:22 UTC