France waived €143.7 million in taxes owed by Anil Ambani’s firm after Rafale Deal announcement: Le Monde

French newspaper Le Monde reported today that French authorities waived taxes worth $162.6 million, or €143.7 million, owed by Reliance Atlantic Flag France, a France-based telecom company owned by Anil Ambani. The tax debt was waived in 2015, a few months after PM Narendra Modi announced the Rafale deal with France in April that year.

Scroll reports: “In early 2015, the French government auditor had found unpaid taxes worth €60 million and then €91 million by Reliance Flag Atlantic France, which is owned by Ambani, according to documents accessed by Le Monde. The tax liability had been pending for years, but the French government accepted a settlement of €7.3-million (Rs 57 crore at current rates) between February and October 2015.”

An auditor had alleged that Reliance Flag Atlantic France was “improperly documenting its transactions with other companies within the Reliance Group”. Later, a new auditor took charge and said the company was going to arrive at a settlement.

Le Monde‘s South Asia correspondent Julien Bouissou posted the key findings of the report on Twitter.

In response to a query from The Wire, Reliance said: “During the period under consideration by the French Tax Authorities—2008-2012 i.e. nearly 10 years ago, Flag France had an operating loss of ₹20 crore (i.e. €2.7 million). The French tax authorities had raised a tax demand of over ₹1,100 crore for the same period. As per the French tax settlement process as per law, a mutual settlement agreement was signed to pay ₹56 crore as a final settlement.”