Editor's Pick: Rafale in the middle

The Hindu Newsletter - The Hindu Newsletter - Editor's Pick [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Tuesday 06, April 2021 [alt_text]( Editor's Pick Rafale in the middle [alt_text]( (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) A French media report on Sunday stated that France’s anti-corruption agency, Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA), had found that aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation [had paid about one million Euros]( to a company called Defsys Solutions for 50 models of the aircraft which were to be given as ‘gifts’. Defsys Solutions belongs to the family of Sushen Gupta, a ‘middleman’ who is also under investigation in the [AgustaWestland chopper case](, and whose relatives “acted as middlemen in the aeronautical and defence industries for three generations”, according to the report by the French online investigative journal Mediapart. The report goes on to say that Dassault could not furnish any proof to the AFA that the 50 models of the aircraft were actually made and the payment is being treated as suspicious. [Sushen Gupta was arrested]( by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2019 in connection with the AgustaWestland (also known as the VVIP chopper) case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2019. He is currently out on bail and their Mediapart report noted that he worked as an agent for Dassault. The BJP was quick to dismiss the allegations of payoffs to middlemen as baseless. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterated that the Supreme Court had rejected a demand for a probe into the purchase of the fighter aircraft and the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) had also found nothing wrong. The Congress, however, is demanding an independent investigation and [answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi](. The party held a press conference to ‘reiterate’ its earlier allegations of corruption and sought fresh answers from Mr Modi, a day before the third phase of voting in Assam and West Bengal and polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had alleged corruption[in the Rafale deal]( as the party’s main poll plank, but it made little impact as the BJP registered a thumping victory. Could this latest investigation revive the issue in the election season, especially in West Bengal where there are five more phases of voting? That is an open question, and the timing of this investigation marks this story out as our top pick of the day. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Where does India rank in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021? 1. 112 2. 94 3. 102 4. 140 To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here]( The Big Story [Key Sergey Lavrov-Jaishankar talks on Tuesday]( [alt_text]( From the Front Page [alt_text]( [Fight against Maoists will be intensified: Amit Shah]( [alt_text]( [Anil Deshmukh resigns as Bombay HC orders CBI probe into corruption charges]( From the Opinion Pages [alt_text]( [The alchemy of anti-incumbency]( [alt_text]( [The pillars of an equitable post-COVID India]( Today's Editorials [On the Assembly ele](ctions in TN, Puducherry and Kerala [On Chha](ttisgarh's Sukma district encounter You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0bfd8hqgbf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hk5y@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2021 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Digital Subscription](