Rafale deal row: Dassault CEO rubbishes Rahul Gandhi's accusations; says, 'We chose Ambani by ourselves, in my position as CEO'

Dassault CEO Eric Trappier has stated that he himself chose the Reliance for the Rafale jet deal and has rubbished the arguments of Rahul Gandhi’s remarks.

Dassault CEO has 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.”

Eric said in an exclusive interview to ANI and 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: Dassault CEO Eric Trappier on allegations of corruption in the Reliance-Dassault JV deal.”

Talking about the price, the 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 elaborated about the companies association with Reliance and said that the Dassault is not putting money in Reliance. “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.”

The CEO talked about the relationship with Congress party and said that they have worked with former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and struck their first deal with India in 1953. “Have long experience with Congress. Our first deal was with India in 1953 was during Nehru, later other PMs. We are not working for any party, we are supplying strategic products to IAF and Indian Govt. That’s what is most important.”

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