On Thursday, the trio comprising of Arun Shourie, Prashant Bhushan, and Yashwant Sinha knocked on the doors of the central investigating agency—the CBI—asking it to register an FIR against PM Modi and others under the Prevention of Corruption Act, for their respective roles in the Rafale deal. 

The 33-page letter submitted to the Alok Kumar Verma, Director of the CBI, asks the agency to register a “complaint under Section 7, Section 13(1)(d)(ii), & Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of unamended Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 7 read with Explanation 2 of amended Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Prime Minister, Mr. Modi, and the then Defence Minister, Mr. Manohar Parrikar” as well as a “complaint against other persons involved for abetment of said offences.” 

The trio has also called upon the central investigating agency to register an FIR against Dassault Aviation, its CEO Mr. Eric Trappier, and Anil Ambani.

Alok Verma has accepted their complaint.

Below are 10 accusations made in the letter written to the CBI:

1. Meeting of Minds:

“On 3rd of March, 2015, Mr. Ambani admitted to a meeting between Mr. Modi and himself (Annexure 3), in which Mr. Modi invoked him to enter the defence sector. Mr. Modi told Mr. Ambani that, ‘Anil, do you know that even the tears we shed in this country are not our own? Every tear gas shell used by our security agencies is actually imported!’”

“Evidently, proximate to the date of the commission of the offence, there was a meeting of minds between Mr. Modi and Mr. Ambani. It is most unusual that the Prime Minister talked to Mr. Ambani about the sensitive defence sector given that Mr. Ambani at the time was being investigated by the CBI for corruption in the 2G scam wherein public servants were bribed.”

“Mr. Ambani at the time had no interests in the defence sector and it wasn’t a legitimate conversation about any business that Mr. Ambani had any actual investment or interest in.”

“At the time Mr. Ambani’s companies were buried under a mountain of debt. On Mr. Modi’s suggestion, Mr. Ambani promptly forayed into a highly technical, sensitive, and government dependent sector such as defence, confident of Mr. Modi’s authority and influence to swing any deal in his favour.”

“Thereafter, 37 days prior to the commission of the offence, Mr. Ambani acquired management control of Pipavav Defence & Engineering on 04th of March, 2015 by purchasing 17.77% stake in the company.”

“A controlling stake of 36% was only acquired one year later on 16th of January, 2016.”

2. Negotiations under original RFP were almost complete 

“During the time period of March, 2015, negotiations for purchasing 126 aircrafts from Dassault Aviation were at an advanced stage. In accordance with requirements  specified by the Indian Air Force, keeping in mind the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons of IAF, as necessitated for protection of national security keeping in mind the threat of a ‘two front’ war, the earlier Government had issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in 2007 for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircrafts (MMRCA).”

“The RFP made clear that the bids were to be inclusive of cost of initial purchase, transfer of technology, licensed production, etc.”

“The Indian Air Force announced in 2011 that Dassault’s Rafale and Eurofighter GmbH’s Typhoon fighters met the IAF’s requirements. In 2012, it was found that Dassault’s bid was the lowest and therefore negotiations began between Dassault and the Indian Government.”

“Those negotiations were almost complete.”

“On 13th of March, 2014, a Work Share Agreement was concluded between Dassault and H.A.L under which H.A.L. and Dassault were to execute 70% and 30% of the work respectively for aircrafts that were to be made in India.”

“It is evident that just 15 days before the new deal was signed, Dassault was not only in final stages of negotiations with India for 126 aircrafts, but HAL, was to be Dassault’s partner in India for manufacturing and Make in India through transfer of technology was on the table.”

“Clearly, the Indian Air Force Chief, Dassault’s C.E.O, and the H.A.L. chairman were unaware of the designs of Mr. Modi and Mr. Ambani.”

3. Other duty bound public servants kept in the dark  

“Even as late as 8th of April, 2015, India’s Foreign Secretary and thus the Foreign Ministry were unaware of the larger designs of Mr. Modi and Mr. Ambani.”

“Six facts are evident from what the Foreign Secretary said just two days before the Prime Minister’s announcement:”
[i] Negotiations were still going on regarding the Rafale aircraft
[ii] Manifestly these were going on under the original RFP for 126 aircrafts;
[iii] HAL was very much to be a part of the project as it was of the negotiations
[iv] The Prime Minister of India and the President of France were to focus on the ‘big picture issues even in the security field.’
[v] No new deal for Rafale aircrafts was on the agenda for the talks in Paris
[vi] Consequently, no preliminary ground work was done as regards any new deal.”

“It is significant that Mr. Modi chose to keep the IAF, HAL, the Foreign Ministry, and even the Defence Minister in the dark about his impending designs.”

“The Foreign Minister was not present in France.”

“The Defence Minister, unaware at the time of the new deal, was reportedly inaugurating a fish shop in Goa.”

“The only two people aware of the impending conspiracy at the time were Mr. Modi and Mr. Ambani. Mr. Modi was not accompanied by either the Foreign Minister or the Defence Minister. But Mr. Ambani accompanied Mr. Modi to Paris.”

4. Commission of the offence

“On the 10th of April, 2015, Mr. Modi, in order to further the conspiracy hatched between himself and Mr. Ambani, abused his office by exercising his public duty improperly and dishonestly.”

“Mr. Modi superseded all other institutions, by unilaterally determining that the well thought out deal for 126 aircrafts —which was as per the requirements and specifications of the IAF, which had followed all the mandatory procedures, under which National Security would have strengthened by ensuring that IAF has the required sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons, which would have ensured that IAF did not have to deal with piecemeal buying that results in a diversified fleet that is most undesirable, which would have ensured that our pilots do  not have to fly what have been termed “flying coffins” because of difficulties in maintenance and support for such a diversified fleet, which would have ensured that India is not subject to pressure from foreign governments where the vendor’s manufacturing plant is located in times of strategic threats, which would have ensured India is finally self-reliant in the manufacture of advanced fighter aircrafts, which would have ensured sophisticated desperately needed transfer of technology for manufacture of advanced fighter aircrafts, which would have ensured a boon for India’s defence industry, which would have resulted in low ‘life cycle costs’, which would have ensured more capital is available for other defence purchases —was discarded.”

“The original deal was unilaterally discarded by Mr. Modi as under that deal H.A.L would have been the production agent for Dassault in India and there was no scope for Mr. Ambani to get an undue advantage.”

“It was solely in order to secure an undue advantage for Mr. Ambani, that public servant Mr. Modi abused his office and performed his public duty improperly and dishonestly by discarding, without authority, the old deal for 126 aircrafts with Make in India by H.A.L. under Transfer of Technology.”

“Instead, to obtain an undue advantage, to be received by Mr. Ambani, Mr. Modi unilaterally and without authority, proposed a new deal for just 36 aircrafts, with no Make in India, with no transfer of technology, all in a ‘fly away’ condition to be manufactured in France, that would have allowed Mr. Ambani to gain an undue advantage by being Dassault’s key offset partner.”

“It was improper, dishonest, malafide, and abuse of his office for Mr. Modi to offer any new deal without the mandatory prerequisites of:”
[1] IAF Services Head Quarters initiating the procurement process by preparing Services Qualitative Requirements (SQRs)
[2] Categorisation Committee recommending the ‘mode of  procurement’ i.e. whether to buy from global vendor directly, or to buy some in a ‘fly away’ condition and manufacture the rest in India
[3] Defence Acquisition Council (D.A.C.) giving the Acceptance of Necessity (A.O.N.) based on IAF’s SQR’s and Categorization Committee’s recommendations
[4] Getting the prerequisite Cabinet Committee on Security clearance. The unilateral offering of this new deal was without any authority by Mr. Modi. Mr. Modi foreclosed the discretion of various institutions as regards specification, quantity, and categorization. Mr. Modi prevented these institutions from doing their public duty in offering a new deal without their prior recommendation and approval.

5. Mr. Modi forced Dassault Aviation to select Mr. Ambani as offset partner 

“Mr. Modi obtained an undue advantage by inducing Dassault Aviation to select Mr. Ambani’s as an offset partner.”

“It is crystal clear that this was Mr. Modi’s unilateral decision. It is crystal clear that Mr. Modi compelled Dassault to offer an undue advantage by way of offsets in exchange for ensuring that he killed the old deal and offered the new one to Dassault. Mr. Modi and Mr. Ambani had acted in a premeditated concert to keep everyone else in the dark and at the very last moment, Mr. Modi himself changed the deal and presented a ‘take it or leave it’ scenario to Dassault and the French. French government or Dassault did not have a “choice” in this matter. Nobody else had a say in this decision at the time. Mr. Hollande, has further corroborated that Anil Ambani was forced upon the French as ‘part of the new formula of the Indian Government.’”

“Three days after the deal, then Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar stated to Doordarshan on 13th of April, 2015, that, ‘Modi-ji took the decision; I back it up.’”

“In less than a week of the announcement of the new deal, stories had emerged in the French media as regards Mr. Ambani’s involvement.”

“This is remarkable given that the official agreement was only signed on 23rd of September, 2016, but as early as 17th of April, 2015, within a week of the joint statement, the French media was already aware that Mr. Modi was promoting Mr. Ambani for the Rafale deal. This substantiates that even before any further discussions for the main procurement were to be done, the name of the offset partner had been decided during Mr. Modi’s visit.”

6. Mr. Modi had no authority to discard the old deal 

“The original deal was officially killed on 24th of June, 2015, by retracting the Request for Proposal (RFP) that was issued in 2007.”

“No such provision for retraction of RFP existed in the Defence Procurement Procedure at the time. Again, this is so that no politician —once the entire process has been gone through as per the requirements of the Services, and the equipment has been extensively tested (over three years in this case by the IAF), and the bids have been properly scrutinised —can at the very last moment hold the L1 supplier hostage using the threat of retraction of RFP for the purposes of rent seeking/ corruption/undue advantage.”

“To cover up the conspiracy, an amendment regularising retraction of RFPs was incorporated only on 23rd of July, 2018.”

7. R.A.L. did not have land when agreement for J.V. was made 

“Dassault has recently stated that they chose R.A.L. because it had land with the facilities of apron. This is evidently a concoction given that as per Dassault itself, the Joint Venture agreement was signed in April of 2015, when R.A.L. did not have any land or industrial license. Reliance’s application for 289 acres of land in Mihan was made on 16th of June, 2015.”

“A bankrupt businessman with exactly zero experience in the defence sector conspires with the Prime Minister of the country, who abuses his office, compromises national security, plays with the lives of the airforce pilots, bypasses all procedures, and secures for Mr. Ambani an undue advantage worth thousands of crores in the largest defence contract in India’s history through a company that did not exist on the day the deal was made.”

“It is quite the record indeed! Mr. Modi abused his influence to ensure that Mr. Ambani got the land at a throwaway price of 64 crores for 289 acres, in a record time. The very same land is supposed to be used for the Joint Ventures between Reliance and Thales which is another sub-vendor in the Rafale deal and other Joint Ventures of Reliance with other vendors globally.”

8. R.A.L. approved by Raksha Mantri even though it violated its industrial license

“The approval of Raksha Mantri was without any application of mind due to Mr. Modi’s influence. Even the slightest attempt at verification of Mr. Ambani’s company as an offset partner and his companies eligibility to be an offset partner would have revealed to the Raskha Mantri that R.A.L. was in violation of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951. “Under the act, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(D.I.P.P.) authorises the location of the industrial unit and the article that is permissible to be manufactured.”

“Refer to the industrial licenses that were en masse granted to Mr. Ambani’s companies. All the licenses were granted for setting up of industrial units in Amreli in Gujarat. In R.A.L’s case, the license was granted specifically for ‘Manufacture and Upgrade of Airplanes and Helicopters Specially Designed for Military Application’.”

“The object of India’s offset policy is to promote manufacturing in the defence sector and promote defence related equipment/services. This object can be suitably met by controlling what the industrial license is issued for. To illustrate, if the requirement is to promote manufacturing of military aircrafts and their components, then the government can control how offsets are discharged by issuing licenses only for Military aircrafts/ components. Then all offsets would have to be discharged through the manufacture/export of military aircrafts, their components, etc.”

“In the instant case, manufacturing of a civilian business jet, helps Dassault boost its global supply chain, but it doesn’t boost India’s military aircraft manufacturing capabilities.”

“It is evidently a violation of the license granted to R.A.L. To be clear, civilian aircrafts are in fact included in the list of eligible products/ services towards the discharge of offsets.”

“The people of India are now sought to be hoodwinked into believing that somehow it was Dassault who chose Mr. Ambani’s practically non-existent company over a Navratna company such as H.A.L. regarding which, just 17 days prior to the deal, Mr. Eric Trappier had expressed satisfaction and appreciation, and with whom, Dassault has a long history of partnership starting from the time that H.A.L. upgraded Dassault’s Mirage aircrafts and with whom, even as regards Rafale, a work share agreement had already been signed on 14th of March, 2014.” 

9. R.A.L. approved by Raksha Mantri even though it was not ‘engaged in the manufacture’ of eligible products/services

“Rupees by the exchequers of Maharashtra, is the reason why Dassault aviation “chose” Mr. Ambani’s company with no experience in the defence sector as its offset partner.”

“The land was given to Mr. Ambani in August of 2015, in exchange for his promise to develop an ‘aerospace park’ by investing 6500 crores of Rupees in Mihan and provide employment to thousands of people at the site.”

“The truth of these promises speaks for itself. No capital investment was made by Mr. Ambani’s R.A.L. at this “Aerospace Park” or by any of his other sham defence companies. The only capital investment was the subsidised cost of the land itself.”

“By abusing his public office and using all the influence of the office at his command, Mr. Modi ensured that his accomplice Mr. Ambani received an undue advantage worth thousands of crores of rupees as an offset partner for a pittance.”

“If land is the only reason that Dassault would have chosen Mr. Ambani’s sham company, it could easily have been provided through H.A.L. as well, given that after all it is the people of India who have given the land to Mr. Ambani at hugely subsidised rates.”

“The modus operandi is to squat on land that he has gotten at throw away prices due to Mr. Modi’s influence and squat on industrial license’s granted to it, and conspire with Mr. Modi to bypass a legitimate tender process to discover L1 and go for “Inter-governmental agreement,” where Mr. Modi can abuse his influence to ensure Mr. Ambani is chosen as the offset partner.”

10. First tranche of undue advantage has been received by Mr. Ambani 

“Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited is the Joint Venture that Dassault was forced to enter into because of Mr. Modi’s dishonest and improper execution of his duty.”

“This Joint Venture will be key to fulfilling of thousands of crores worth of offset obligations.”

“In this J.V., Mr. Ambani’s R.A.L. has a share of 51% and Dassault has a share of 49%. As stated earlier, as per the press release of Dassault, this J.V. agreement was made in April of 2015 itself at the instance of the Prime Minister. It was formally incorporated in India on 10th of February, 2017.”

“In October of 2017, Dassault announced that it would invest 100 million dollars in Mihan, which would be the single largest FDI in defence sector in India at a single location ever. That would be round about 830 crores of rupees.”

“As per Dassault’s financial statement for 2017 (Annexure 39), by 31st of December, 2017, 4 million euros or about 33 crores of Rupees were given to D.R.A.L by way of advance.”

“By 31st of March, 2018, as per R.I.L’s statement, D.R.A.L, had total assets of 49.75 crores. It is doubtful that the rest of the 16 crores have been invested by Mr. Ambani either. Probably it has come in from Dassault after 31st of December, 2017.”

“It is clear who is actually investing money in D.R.A.L. It is clear who will continue to invest in D.R.A.L.”

“The fact that Mr. Ambani made no efforts whatsoever through R.A.L. or any of his other sham companies to start manufacturing prior to the J.V. with Dassault, makes clear who will actually do all the work in the said J.V.”

“All Mr. Ambani has done is to use Mr. Modi’s influence to acquire the land at throw away prices and thereafter used his influence to ensure that he receives an undue advantage by way of offsets worth thousands of crores, without actually investing any capital or actually doing any work.”

“Almost nil part of the promised 6500 crores of Rupees has been invested by Mr. Anil Ambani since August of  2015 till now for the ‘Aerospace park’. The tin shed that stands at Mihan today is a testimony to the fact that Mr. Ambani’s sole interest is in securing offsets.”

“Every instalment of investment by Dassault Aviation in D.R.A.L. is an undue advantage received by Mr. Ambani because of Mr. Modi’s abuse of his office. As long as the instalments continue, the offence commenced on 10th of April, 2015, continues. It is an ongoing offence.”

The letter further stated: “The facts mentioned above clearly show two things: (a) that Prime Minister, Mr Modi, asked Dassault to give the major offset contracts in this deal to Anil Ambani’s defence company as a condition for getting the contract; & (b) that the offset contracts worth tens of thousands of crores which have been awarded to Reliance Aerostructure Limited are not and cannot be considered to be legal renumeration for services actually rendered or services which could credibly be rendered by Reliance Aerostructure Limited. Therefore, these offset contracts and the payments made/to be made for them are at least in large part in the nature of undue advantage/illegal gratification/commissions to be paid to the Reliance Aerostructure Limited under this deal.”

“It is clear therefore that Mr. Modi, has used his position as the Prime Minister heading the government, to give an undue advantage to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Aerostructure Limited company as a consideration for the discharge of his function as a public servant to award the contract of purchasing 36 Rafale jets from Dassault in a ‘fly away’ condition.”

The trio have also mentioned how asking the CBI to investigate the PM is “peculiar.” 

“We are also aware that this will place you in the peculiar situation, of having to ask the accused himself, for permission to investigate a case against him. We realise that your hands are tied in this matter, but we request you to at least take the first step, of seeking permission of the government under Section 17(A) of Prevention of Corruption Act for investigating this offence and under which, “the concerned authority shall convey its decision under this section within a period of three months, which may, for reasons to be recorded in writing by such authority, be extended by a further period of one month.”