Congress says government lied in Supreme Court about CAG report on Rafale pricing

A day after Supreme Court denied reviewing the Rafale deal, the Congress on Saturday launched a fresh round of attack over the Narendra Modi government and accused it of lying in the top court that a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report over the controversial aircraft deal was presented before Parliament. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said, “Government lied in Supreme Court that the CAG report was presented in the house and before the PAC. They told the top court that it is public domain. Where is it? Have you seen it?”

The Congress leader said that he will take up the matter with other members of the PAC and will summon the Attorney General (AG) and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

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“We will request the PAC members to summon the AG and CAG and ask them when the Auditor General was informed about the pricing of the Rafale aircraft and when it was given to the PAC and when the PAC probed it and presented the report before Parliament as claimed by the government in the apex court,” Kharge said.

Mallikarjun Kharge: Govt lied in SC that the CAG report was presented in the house and in PAC and PAC has probed it. Govt said in SC it is in public domain. Where is it? Have you seen it? I am going to take this up with other members of PAC. We will summon AG and CAG. #Rafale pic.twitter.com/IccrwaZxx1

— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2018

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court had rejected all the petitions seeking to direct the CBI to register a case and prob the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal. A top court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that there was no occasion to the decision-making process in the deal and even if there were some minor deviations, they would not lead to the annulment of the deal.

"Our country cannot afford to be unprepared/under-prepared in a situation where our adversaries are stated to have acquired not only 4th Generation but even 5th Generation Aircrafts, of which, we have none. It will not be correct for the court to sit as an appellate authority to scrutinize each aspect of the process of acquisition," the top court had said in its judgment.

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The court had also said that it was informed by the government that the CAG report on pricing of the Rafale deal was presented before the PAC, however, Kharge, who is also the chief of the PAC denied the government’s claims.