The report is divided into two sections and comprises review of 11 deals signed by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the past few years. It is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The auditor has gone into comparative evaluation of the Rafale jets but has mentioned all its estimations in terms of percentage, avoiding any mention of the price of the jets

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General submitted its much awaited defence report on the acquisition of Rs 59,000 crore Rafale fighter jets from France, the delivery of which is scheduled to begin later this year.

The report, which is likely to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, is divided into two sections and comprises review of 11 deals signed by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the past few years. The Rafale deal audit is part of the second section of the same report.

The federal auditor has gone into comparative evaluation of the Rafale jets but has mentioned all its estimations in terms of percentage, avoiding any mention of the price of the jets after concerns were raised by the ministry of defence. “The deal has been evaluated without mentioning the price on the request of MoD,” sources said. The auditor has, however, mentioned prices in other 10 acquisitions made by the IAF.

The CAG is separately coming out with another standalone report on all offset deals of the MoD (ministry of defence) of the past five years, a draft report of which has already been sent to the government for its response. The report may not be finalised before the general election.

The report on the offset deals, being prepared separately, includes the review of offset agreements in the Rafale deal where opposition Congress had raised objections of favouring Reliance of the Anil Ambani group which had bagged major contract from Dassault, the French manufacturer of Rafale jets.

The opposition has stepped up attack on the auditor with Congress alleging conflict of interest and demanded CAG Rajiv Mehrishi should have recused from auditing the deal since he was the finance secretary when the deal was negotiated.

However, officials in the CAG rejected all such allegations and said that the deal has been evaluated on all parameters that past deals have been scrutinised on. A comparative evaluation includes price availability and existing market scenario.

Sources said the auditor has devoted one entire section of the two-part report on the Rafale deal to avoid any assumption and charges that the controversial deal has not been taken seriously by the CAG. A comprehensive review of the deal as published in the report will clear all such doubts when it is tabled in Parliament and available in public domain, officials said.