Congress calls Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier's interview on Rafale deal 'dictated and manufactured'

Fresh claims made by Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier has renewed the controversy over Rafale fighter jets deal between India and France. With the French firm’s CEO rubbishing allegations levelled by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party has come out in the defence of its leader.

Soon after the interview of the Dassault Aviation CEO made headlines in Indian media, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala took to microblogging site Twitter to term the interview as “dictated” and the claims made as “manufactured lies.

Reiterating that the Rafale fighter jets deal between the countries is a scam, the Congress leader said, “‘Dictated Interviews’ & ‘Manufactured Lies’ can not suppress the #Rafale Scam!”

The Congress further said that the statements of “mutual beneficiaries” and “co-accused” hold “no value”.

‘Dictated Interviews’ & ‘Manufactured Lies’ can not suppress the #Rafale Scam!

First rule of Law-
Mutual Beneficiaries & Co-accused’s statements hold no value.

Second Rule:-Beneficiaries & Accused can’t be Judge in their own case.

Truth has a way of coming out. https://t.co/rRoGlKNl6q — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 13, 2018

“First rule of Law - Mutual Beneficiaries & Co-accused’s statements hold no value. Second Rule:-Beneficiaries & Accused can’t be Judge in their own case. Truth has a way of coming out,” tweeted Surjewala.

The rebuttal by the Congress party came after Dassault Aviation CEO claimed that all allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi in connection with the Rafale fighter jets deal were false.

“I don’t lie. The truth I declared earlier and the statements I made are true. I don’t have a reputation of lying. In my position as CEO, you don’t lie,” said Trappier in an interview with news agency ANI.

The Dassault Aviation CEO further said that the company chose Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as an offset partner on its own. “We chose Ambani by ourselves. We already have 30 partners other than Reliance,” he said.

The Dassault Aviation CEO added that the money being invested was not going directly to Reliance directly but in a joint venture. “When we created the JV last year, decision of creating a JV was part of our agreement in 2012, but we waited for contract to be signed. We are supposed to put in this company together about 800cr as 50:50. Shares in the JV are 49% for Dassault and 51% for Reliance,” he said.