'Rafale deal CAG report will be severely compromised'

After the Congress, the CPM on Monday trained guns at Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Rajiv Mehrishi saying that his report on Rafale deal will be "severely compromised" as he was finance secretary when it was inked.

With new "revelations" on the deal appearing on "regular basis", it also said that the Supreme Court should revisit its order saying the Narendra Modi government didn't furnish full information before the court.

Demanding a high-level probe, the CPM statement said that the fresh reports suggested that anti-corruption clauses were waived as far as the Rafale negotiations are concerned and that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was conducting parallel negotiations keeping the official negotiating team in the dark.

"The PMO refused the suggestion for an escrow account. Not only was there no sovereign guarantee by the French government but it now appears that the PMO also batted for no bank guarantee. All this, to facilitate the loot of the Indian exchequer by the Prime Minister’s crony capitalist friend," it said.

"Clearly, the Supreme Court had not been furnished with the full information regarding this deal given by the Modi government. In this background, it may be in order for the Hon’ble Supreme Court to suo moto revisit its earlier ruling," it said.

Turning its focus on Mehrishi, it said that he was finance secretary when the deal was signed.

"The CAG, who is supposed to present a report on Rafale deal, suffers from a conflict of interest as he was the finance secretary when this deal was inked. The credibility of a CAG report is hence severely compromised," it said.

On Sunday, the Congress accused Mehrishi of collaborating with Modi government, when he was finance secretary, in committing "irregularities, bungling and corruption".

He is now "attempting" to give the ruling BJP a "clean chit" as an auditor in the controversial deal just before the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress added.

The CPM Polit Bureau demanded that in order to get to the bottom of this mega scam and on that basis bringing the guilty to book, it is imperative to conduct a high-level investigation.