Parisian investigating judges ordered this Tuesday the correctional dismissal of the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati as well as the powerful ex-all boss of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn for corruption and influence traffic. The two accused disputes the accusations in this judicial file has been educated since 2019 in Paris and the heavy political issues, Rachida Dati being one of the main figures of the government of François Bayrou and potential candidate for the town hall of Paris.
A first hearing, scheduled for September 29, should make it possible to fix the date of the trial, according to the judicial source interviewed by AFP. According to a source close to the file, the trial could be held after the municipal elections, scheduled for March 2026.
The minister suspected of having received 900,000 euros
Rachida Dati will be judged to conceal abuse of power and breach of trust, corruption and passive influence by person invested with a public elective mandate within an international organization, the European Parliament. She is suspected of having received 900,000 euros between 2010 and 2012 for consulting services with a fee agreement signed on October 28, 2009 with RNBV, a subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, but without having really worked, while she was a lawyer and European deputy (2009-2019). The investigations also sought to determine whether this fee agreement could have been used to hide a lobbying activity in the European Parliament, prohibited for all elected.
After having been initially placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness, Rachida Dati was indicted in July 2021. The Minister of Culture, who was also Keeper of the Seals under Nicolas Sarkozy, notably considers these facts as prescribed and has multiplied in vain the appeals to end the proceedings. “Appeals are still hanging but do not preclude the investigating magistrates make their end -of -information order,” said the judicial source.
Carlos Ghosn, 71, has been targeted since April 2023 by an international arrest warrant in this file and will be tried for abuse of powers by business manager, breach of trust, corruption and active influence traffic, in a file where the Renault company has been civil party. He disputes all the accusations. The one who owns the Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities was arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan in late 2018 where he was to be tried for alleged financial embezzlement when he was at the head of Renault-Nissan. He found refuge in Lebanon at the end of 2019 after a incredible leak in Japan.