Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP-led Union government of “keeping silent” and not taking action into allegations of corruption in the Scorpene submarine deal of 2005 and further going ahead with the Rafale deal worth Rs. 58,000 crore with a company involved in the previous deal.
They alleged that a BJP MP and several military officers were honey trapped and forced to pass on sensitive information. “Neither the present government nor the previous Congress government have any interest in the nation’s security,” Mr. Bhushan said.
“Why is the government not registering a First Information Report against arms dealer Abhishek Verma,” they asked.
“The current government has continued to patronise the same set of players who should have been blacklisted for violating the law of the land,” said Mr. Bhushan, adding that the government should immediately order registration of an FIR against Verma for payment of commission in the Scorpene deal.
Referring to the recent Rafale fighter aircraft deal with France, Mr. Bhushan said: “The Centre signed a Rs. 58,000 crore deal for procurement of 36 Rafale jets on September 22, 2016 with Dassault Aviation. Notably, Dassault Aviation had acquired Thales, the company that should have been blacklisted for using middlemen in the Scorpene deal, because as per a government rule if any middleman is identified in a deal then related companies ought to be blacklisted.”
Responding to questions on the sidelines of a public event, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar defended the Rafale deal, saying “it was the best deal ever.”
