Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie demand CBI probe into Rafale deal
New Delhi, Oct 4 : Lawyer Prashant Bhushan and former Union minister Arun Shourie met CBI Director Alok Verma on Thursday, demanding a probe into alleged corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal and offset contract.
Along with a "detailed" complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Bhushan and Shourie also submitted documents buttressing their arguments for the need of probe.
They asked the agency director to take permission of the government to initiate the probe in accordance with the law.
"CBI Director said he will look into it very carefully. We will take appropriate action," Bhushan told reporters after coming out of the CBI headquarters.
Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, had chosen Reliance Defence as its partner to fulfil offset obligations of the deal. The government has been maintaining it did not have any role in selection of the offset partner by Dassault.
India had inked an inter-governmental agreement with France in September last year for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore, nearly one-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposal during a visit to Paris. The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September, 2019.
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Trump’s fresh threat to bomb Iran amid reports of deal to end war
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Iran with more bombing if it doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz, amid a report that the warring sides were nearing an agreement to end the war.
US media outlet Axios reported, quoting US officials and two other sources, that the US and Iran were getting close to a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.
The US expects Iranian responses on several key points over the next 48 hours, Axios reported, adding that nothing has been agreed yet. This was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.
"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said.
According to Axios, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the US agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
It said many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached, leaving the possibility of renewed war or an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped, but nothing is truly resolved.
