Ambani’s tax dispute was settled by October 2015 when India and France-based Dassault Aviation were negotiating the Rafale deal, according to French paper Le Monde
Reliance Atlantic Flag France had offered to pay 7.6 million euros as taxes but French authorities refused, according to report Le Monde said that after deal French authorities accepted 7.3 million euros from Reliance as a settlement for tax dispute
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The Defence Ministry said on Saturday that any connections drawn between the tax exemption to a private company and the Rafale aircraft deal is ‘totally inaccurate’, tendentious and a mischievous attempt to disinform.
This comes after a French newspaper, Le Monde, claimed that businessman Anil Ambani’s French company got tax waiver of 143.7 million euro around the time of Rafale deal.
The Defence Ministry, in a statement, said the reports drawing a conjectural connection between tax exemption to the private company and procurement of Rafale fighter jets by the government are inaccurate.
It said neither the period of the tax concession nor the subject matter of the concession relates even remotely to the Rafale deal concluded during the tenure of the present NDA government.
“We have seen reports drawing conjectural connection between tax exemption to a private company and procurement of Rafale fighter jets by Government of India. Neither the period of the tax concession nor the subject matter of the concession relate even remotely to the Rafale procurement concluded during the tenure of the present Government. Any connections drawn between the tax issue and the Rafale matter is totally inaccurate, tendentious and is a mischievous attempt to disinform” DEFENCE MINISTRY SAID IN A STATEMENT .
Congress has claimed that layers of corruption and money trail in the Rafale deal are out following a French newspaper’s report that France waived off tax dues of businessman Anil Ambani.
Talking to media, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the tax dispute was settled soon after the Rafale deal was negotiated by the NDA government.
He asked if this is not a clear case of quid pro quo in exchange for the purchase of Rafale aircraft.
Le Monde has reported that the French authorities waived off taxes worth 143.7 million euros or 162.6 million dollars in favour of Indian businessman Anil Ambani’s France-based telecom company called “Reliance Atlantic Flag France”. Anil Ambani’s tax, the result of disputed tax litigation, was cleared a few months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Rafale deal with France.
The Reliance Communication has, however, said that the tax demands of the French tax authorities were “unsustainable and illegal”. It also said that a settlement with the French authorities was reached as per the country’s laws.
The tax dispute, according to the local media outlet Le Monde, was settled by October 2015 when India and France-based Dassault Aviation were negotiating the Rafale deal.
A few months earlier, PM Modi, during an official visit to France in April 2015, had announced that India would acquire 36 fully built Rafale fighter jets from the French company Dassault.
French ambassador to India, Alexandre Ziegler has issued a statement saying, “A global settlement was reached between the French tax authorities and Reliance Flag, a telecom company, in a tax dispute pertaining to the period 2008-2012.
“This settlement was conducted in full adherence with the legislative and regulatory framework governing this common practice of the tax administration. It was not subject to any political interference whatsoever.”