It needs to be emphasised that we are not alleging that any wrongdoing has already been committed by Prashant Sukul or Madhulika Sukul, or to imply that they will necessarily compromise the audit reports when the offset contracts start coming in next year. However, the potential conflict of interest that exists at this point itself – their presence in the CGDA could influence the award of offset contracts as well – and the potential impact this could have next year when the audits begin, cannot be ignored.

In his response, Prashant Sukul has noted that Madhulika Sukul recused herself from all Reliance matters on 19 September 2018, to avoid any conflicts of interest between her and Shantanu, who was still working for Reliance at the time. Since he has not provided us with a copy of the documents and Madhulika Sukul has not responded to us, we cannot verify this information at this point, and so we cannot rule out the possibility that she could play a role in the offset audit process. Also note that she would need to have recused herself from all the audits, not just the ones for Reliance, since they could benefit from how other companies will be audited too.

Prashant Sukul also claims that Shantanu Sukul recently resigned from Reliance, and that the resignation was accepted on 30 September 2018. As mentioned earlier, Shantanu has claimed that he has resigned from any positions he held at Reliance companies. We have sent questions to Reliance to confirm this was the case and will update this story when we receive documentary evidence that demonstrates the same.

If Shantanu Sukul continues to work with Reliance, however, the potential for the conflict of interest will still exist, provided Madhulika and Prashant Sukul retain positions in the CGDA, and/or in Madhulika’s case, she continues to be the Financial Adviser (Defence Services). If they continue in their positions, then appropriate measures will need to be taken to ensure they have nothing to do with the Rafale offset audit process, and recuse themselves from any matter in which Reliance has an interest.

This could be quite difficult to do, since Reliance is not only attempting to involve itself in the Rafale deal offsets, but many other projects with the government.