Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Daniel Pier / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP 16:29 p.m., May 05, 2023, modified at 16:34 p.m., May 05, 2023

The investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office is on suspicion of bribery of a foreign public official and laundering of this offence to obtain a contract to refurbish Mirage-2000 fighter jets in India.

The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) has opened a preliminary investigation to verify whether the Thales arms group used corruption, which it disputes, to obtain a contract to refurbish Mirage-2000 fighter jets in India, AFP learned Friday from a source close to the case.

Contacted by AFP, the group "strongly disputes these allegations" and says "have never been questioned by the PNF on this subject". Asked, the PNF did not wish to confirm this information unveiled by Radio France. According to the source close to the case, this investigation concerns suspicions of bribery of a foreign public official and laundering of this offense.

A modernization contract signed with Paris in 2011

Sanjay Bhandari, an Indian middleman living in Britain, claims to have helped Thales win the contract to refurbish Mirage-2000 aircraft in India, which would have promised him in exchange the payment of 20 million euros by an offshore financial circuit.

In 2011, India signed a contract with Paris to modernize its fleet of 1 Mirage-4s acquired in the 51s for nearly €2000.1980 billion to be shared between Thales and Dassault.

Sanjay Bhandari brought a first action before the Nanterre Commercial Court to claim the remaining €11 million, which he said had not been paid to him for his alleged aid to the signing of the contract.

His request was ruled inadmissible on October 28, according to a decision of this court that AFP has seen, because Sanjay Bhandari is considered "defective in the administration of the proof of the existence of the contract he alleges and which he acknowledges had not been formalized in writing."

An investigation by Parisian financial investigating judges since June 2021

Sanjay Bhandari claims that it was a month after his visit to Paris in June 2011 with senior Thales officials and the conclusion of an oral agreement for his remuneration, that Thales would have won the contract. According to Radio France, it claims to have "allowed Thales to lift all the blockages related to the signing of the contract".

"Thales has not entered into any contract with Sanjay Bhandari or with its companies as part of this project," the arms group responded in a statement to AFP, recalling the decision of the commercial court dismissing Sanjay Bhandari.

"Thales respects the law and applies a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and influence peddling," the group added. Parisian financial investigating judges have also been investigating since June 2021 the conditions of the sale in September 2016 of 36 Rafale by the France to India, for an amount of 7.8 billion euros. Sanjay Bhandari's lawyers did not immediately respond.