The threat of a trial is stronger than ever for Rachida Dati: the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) confirmed on Friday that it had requested that the emblematic Minister of Culture as well as the former all-powerful boss of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn be tried for corruption and influence peddling.
The two defendants contest the accusations in a legal case investigated since 2019 in Paris and with heavy political stakes, Rachida Dati being one of the main figures in Michel Barnier's government.
The PNF's “indictment” is “infamous” and “shocking in more than one way”, said Ms. Dati in a press release, denouncing an “instrumentalization of this affair by (s)his political opponents”.
The minister, 58, is suspected of having received, “in complete confidentiality, even in complete opacity”, 900,000 euros between 2010 and 2012 for consulting services recorded in a fee agreement signed on October 28, 2009 with RNBV, subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, but without having actually worked, while she was a lawyer and MEP (2009-2019).
The investigations also sought to determine whether this fee agreement could have been used to hide lobbying activity in the European Parliament, which is prohibited to any elected official.
After initially being placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness, Ms. Dati was indicted in July 2021.
In detail, the PNF confirmed having requested a trial against her on Wednesday for concealment of abuse of power and breach of trust, corruption and passive influence peddling by a person invested with a public elective mandate within a international organization, the European Parliament.
“An indictment is only the prosecution’s view of a case,” Ms. Dati’s lawyers responded to AFP.
– “Thwart” –
“This indictment comes against the grain of all the elements that we have provided: testimonies, documents, documents…” and which attest, according to Messrs Olivier Baratelli and Olivier Pardo, to the “innocence” of their client.
“A legal period now opens during which we will respond point by point to counter this fragmented and inaccurate vision,” affirmed the two councils.
Ms. Dati assures that she will face “this new ordeal with serenity and determination”.
The Minister of Culture, who was also Minister of Justice under Nicolas Sarkozy, considers these facts to be prescribed and has increased the number of appeals to put an end to the prosecution. In vain.
– “Regularity” –
Carlos Ghosn, 70, has been the subject of an international arrest warrant in this case since April 2023. He is also the subject of another arrest warrant since 2022 in investigations in Nanterre which are still ongoing, in particular for misuse of corporate assets and organized gang money laundering in connection with the Omani distributor Suhail Bahwan Automobiles.
In Paris, the former automobile magnate faces trial for abuse of power by a company director, breach of trust, corruption and active influence peddling, in a case where the Renault company has become a civil party.
The man who has Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities was arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan 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 an incredible escape from Japan.
His lawyers, Me Jacqueline Laffont-Haïk, Cloé Fonteix, Martin Reynaud and Léon Del Forno, told AFP that their client was “blocked on Lebanese territory by virtue of a court decision”.
Carlos Ghosn “disputes the regularity of the arrest warrant on the basis of which the prosecution requests his dismissal, because in the current situation it constitutes a misuse of procedure. Finally, he recalls his impossibility of having access to the elements of the file and to participate in the investigation, in flagrant violation of the rights of the defense”, they added.
The final decision on whether to hold a possible trial rests with the Parisian investigating judges responsible for the case, the PNF specifying that an appeal is still pending before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.
In this case, three people had been placed under the status of assisted witness: Mouna Sepehri, former right-hand man of Carlos Ghosn, Christian Husson, legal director of Renault at the time of the facts, and the criminologist Alain Bauer.
The prosecution specified that “a dismissal was requested on the aspect of the contracts concluded between the company RNBV and the company AB Conseil” of Alain Bauer, who had received one million euros between 2012 and 2016 for activities security consultant.
