Modi and French President Discuss Scorpene Data Leak at G20 Summit

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup confirmed that the Scorpene data leak was raised in a brief meeting between the two.

File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Hollande. (Photo: Reuters)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the leak of confidential and sensitive data regarding Indian Navy’s Scorpene submarines with French President Francois Hollande in a separate meeting during the ongoing G20 summit.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup confirmed the meeting during his briefing on Monday afternoon, reports The Hindu.

Modi also met Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull but there has been no confirmation on whether the two talked about the data leak that was reported in The Australian. Swarup was quoted as saying, “I can neither confirm nor deny it.”

Also Read: Scorpene Data Leak: India May Scrap Future French Submarine Deals

France has reportedly assured Australia about the submarines that the latter is set to acquire from DCNS, the French contractor building the submarines, in the aftermath of the data leakage of the Scorpene.

There’s a thorough investigation going on in the French side to see how that happened — of course it’s a different submarine to the one that we are going to build in collaboration with the French — but it is absolutely critical to continue to maintain the highest level of security.

Australian Prime Minister Turnbull

Over 22,000 pages of top secret data on the capabilities of the submarines being built in Mumbai details the entire secret combat capability of the six Scorpene-class submarines that French shipbuilder DCNS has designed.

An Australian court asked The Australian newspaper last week to handover all leaked data of India’s Scorpene submarine to DCNS and to stop publishing any more details.

Reuters had earlier reported that Indian officials have pointed to a “non-disclosure of information” clause that was written into the 2005 contract at French insistence. Quoting a defence ministry official, it said that New Delhi could only invoke that clause if it was established that the data was leaked and not stolen.

(With inputs from The Hindu.)