Actress Julie Gayet was heard at a free audience in October 2024 on corruption suspicions related to the sale of Rafale aircraft to India and the financing of a film that co -produced by an Indian company that participated in the market, a judicial source told AFP on Wednesday.
This source confirmed the release information according to which the partner of François Hollande, president at the time of signing the contract, was heard at the free audience, that is, a state of person questioned, in October 2024.
The sale of Rafale to India, which dates from September 2016 for an amount of 7.8 billion euros, has aroused the stir in the Asian giant for several years.
Dassault Aviation had won a call for tenders in 2012 to provide 126 aircraft and negotiate since with the manufacturer of Indian aircraft Hindustan Aeronctics Ltd (HAL). The negotiations concluded “95%” in March 2015, according to the manufacturer of French aircraft. But the next month, after an official visit to France by Narendra Modi, the negotiations broke to everyone’s surprise.
Reliance Group, a private company without experience in the aeronautical industry, had been imposed on the expense of Hal to end a new contract, in relation to the delivery of 36 planes.
In January 2016, at the time of the final negotiations, Reliance Group participated in the financing, for 1.6 million euros and through an investment fund, of a film co -produced by Julie Gayet.
A “pure coincidence”
“It has absolutely nothing to do, it is a pure coincidence. It is not Julie Gayet who was in contact with the Indians, it was my family, the Kev Adams company. Julie Gayet gave all the elements, all the information to the researchers,” said his lawyer, Me Jean Ennochi. “Reliance is one of the world leaders in the cinema, who had an interest in the film,” he added.
The former head of the State had defended himself in September 2018 from any conflict of interest, claiming that France “had no other option” of Dassault Aviation’s Indian partner, aroused a series of reactions in India. He had used this argument to argue that Reliance “did not have to (he) to make anything funny. He couldn’t even imagine that there was any link with a Julie Gayet movie,” he said.
In April 2019, Le Monde also revealed that France had canceled in 2015 a tax recovery of a total amount of 143.7 million euros aimed at a French company that belongs to Reliance Group, at the same time that this sale was negotiated.
In June 2019, the National Office of the Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) classified a first complaint of Sherpa. Then, the NGO filed a new complaint, which led to the opening of judicial information in June 2021, entrusted two investigating judges.
Dassault was registered in France in February 2022.
After the contract signed between France and India to equip the Indian Air Force with 36 Rafale in 2016, an intergovernmental agreement was signed again in April, this time to provide the Indian navy with 26 planes. The amount of the order is estimated at 6.5 billion euros.
Source: BFM TV
