“HAL said in the last few days of the deal that they were not interested to be part of the offset. It was my decision and the decision of Reliance to invest in a new private company.”
France | Dassault CEO Eric Trappier has claimed that there was no external pressure for choosing Anil Ambani’s Reliance defence for the partners in the Indo-France Rafale Fighter Jet deal.
In an Exclusive interview to News Agency ANI, Dassault CEO Eric Trappier said,”“HAL said in the last few days of the deal that they were not interested to be part of the offset. It was my decision and the decision of Reliance to invest in a new private company.” He further added that we chose Ambani by ourselves. We already have 30 partners other than Reliance.” The IAF is supporting the deal because they need the fighter jets for their own defence to be at the top,” he added.
Responding to the allegation of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Trappier said,”I don’t lie. The truth I declared before and the statements I made are true. I don’t have a reputation of lying. In my position as CEO, you don’t lie.” Trappier also clarified that the company is not investing in Anil Ambani’s Relaince Defence as alleged by Congress President. He said,”We are not putting the money in Reliance. The money is going into the JV (Dassault-Reliance). Engineers and workers from Dassault are taking the lead as far as the industrial part of the deal is concerned”.”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 added.
Speaking on the difference in the Price of Rafale jets during the purchase in UPA era and NDA era, the Dassault CEO said,”Price of 36 was exactly the same when you compare with 18 flyaway. 36 is the double of 18. So as far as I was concerned, it should have been double the price. But because it was govt to govt, there was negotiation, I had to decrease price by 9%.” Eric Trappier also responded to oppositions claim of connection with the NDA government. He said, “Dassault have long experience with Congress. Our first deal with India was in 1953 during Nehru, later other PMs. We are not working for any party, we are supplying strategic products to IAF and Indian Government.”
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