The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a fresh plea for a probe into the 2016 Rafale fighters jet deal on the basis of "new revelations" by a French portal that manufacturers Dassault Aviation paid approximately one million Euro to middlemen here.
A bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said in view of the previous judgement by a three-judge bench rejecting a similar plea, the instant matter can't be entertained.
Sharma, for his part, repeatedly pleaded that there were reports on payment of bribes and that the CBI and the ED may be asked to examine it.
"When I filed this plea in 2021, it was found that Dassault had paid a sum to secure the contract. Rule of law applies for cancellation of the contract. This plea is to issue letters for rogatory and so the documents can be brought in," he submitted
He further claimed if the french agency said 1 billion euros was paid as a bribe, then we need to see those papers and thus letters of rogatory needed.
"I don't have any personal agenda," he said.
The court, however, remained unbudged and declined to entertain the petition, saying "you can't keep filing such petitions".
In his petition, Sharma made Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Sushen Mohan Gupta of Defsys Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DRAL) parties in the matter.
The top court had earlier on December 14, 2018, dismissed a batch of petitions, including by Sharma, seeking a probe into the deal, and also rejected the review petitions against the judgement on November 14, 2019.
In his plea, Sharma sought a direction of the court for registration of an FIR against the accused persons under Sections 420 (Cheating), 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with for offences with Prevention of Corruption Act.
He alleged that certain accused persons had illegally engaged themselves to secure secret papers from the defence ministry to secure the Rafale deal on September 23, 2016.
He said the cause of action arose on April 5, 2021, as an investigation report by the AFA (France CAG) declared that Dassault gave 1 million euros to middlemen in India as bribe.
Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) functioned in a capacity similar to India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), with the aim of checking whether large companies implemented anti-corruption procedures. However, unlike the CAG, the AFA also audited private firms. In its report, the AFA did disclose corruption in the Rafale deal, he claimed.
He sought an independent probe into the case under the supervision of the top court for prosecution of the accused.
The petitioner sought a direction for cancelling the 2016 agreement for purchase of 36 Rafale fighters jets from Dassault France, having been hit by "fraud, corruption and the offence under the Official Secret Act".
He also contended that a direction must be issued by the court to recover the entire advanced money with penalty and to blacklist Dassault Aviation in future defence deals.