Government to table CAG report on Rafale in Parliament tomorrow
The government is scheduled to table the CAG report on Rafale jet fighter deal, which has generated a massive political controversy, in Parliament tomorrow, sources said. The government's decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault has become a controversial political issue, with the main opposition party Congress leveling allegations of corruption and impropriety on BJP. Read the details here.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report will be tabled on Tuesday, a day before the end of the present Lok Sabha session. This is the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha as the general elections are due in April-May.
Former minister and senior Congress-leader Kapil Sibal yesterday alleged conflict of interest and asked the CAG Rajiv Mehrishi to excuse himself from auditing the deal as he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, in a series of tweets, rebutted the claims of Sibal saying the Congress was casting aspersions on the institution of CAG based on "falsehood".
Another attack on the institution of GAG by the ‘Institution wreckers’ based on falsehood.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 10, 2019
After ten years in Government former UPA ministers still don’t know that Finance Secretary is only a designation given to the senior most secretary in the finance ministry.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 10, 2019
Sibal said Rajiv Mehrishi was the finance secretary from October 24, 2014-August 30, 2015 and, in between, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris on April 10, 2015 and announced the signing of the Rafale deal. "...Finance Ministry plays an important role in these negotiations...Now it is clear that the Rafale deal happened under Rajiv Mehrishi. Now he is CAG," Sibal had said.
Sibal further said, "We told him (Mehrishi) about the scam. We told him that the deal should be probed because it is corrupt. But how can he initiate a probe against himself." The Rafale issue was even raised before the SC, which did not find any substance in the allegations. However, Congress President Rahul Gandhi still accuse PM Modi of benefiting industrialist Anil Ambani.
