Sushant Singh: Two weeks before Rafale announcement, Anil Ambani met French Defence officials
In the fourth week of
March 2015, about a fortnight before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced
the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France, businessman Anil
Ambani visited then French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s office in
Paris and had a meeting with his top advisors, The Indian Express has learnt.
The meeting was
attended by Le Drian’s special advisor Jean-Claude Mallet; his industry
advisor, Christophe Salomon; and his technical advisor for industrial affairs,
Geoffrey Bouquot.
Ambani’s meeting was
described by Salomon to a top official of a European defence company as
“confidential and planned as you can imagine with very short notice”.
Ambani, according to
an official who was briefed on the meeting, expressed his wish to work with
Airbus Helicopters on both commercial and defence helicopters. He is also said
to have mentioned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “in preparation and the intention
to sign during the PM visit”.
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