The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday requested a trial before the criminal court in particular for corruption and influence peddling against the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati and the former boss of the Renault-Nissan automobile group, Carlos Ghosn, the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday .
The two defendants contest the accusations in a legal case investigated since 2019 in Paris and with heavy current political issues, Rachida Dati being one of the main figures in Michel Barnier’s government.
Rachida Dati is suspected of having received 900,000 euros from RNBV, a subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, without compensation for any real work, between 2010 and 2012. She was then a lawyer and European MP (2009- 2019) – which could have served to hide lobbying activity in the European Parliament.
In detail, the PNF confirmed having requested a trial against Ms. Dati 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. It does not reflect reality,” Ms. Dati’s lawyers responded to AFP. “A legal deadline now opens during which we will respond point by point to counter this fragmented and inaccurate vision,” assured Messrs Olivier Baratelli and Olivier Pardo.
The Minister of Culture, who was also Keeper of the Seals, considers these facts prescribed and has already increased the number of appeals in this direction to put an end to the prosecution. In vain.
Carlos Ghosn has been targeted by an international arrest warrant since April 2023.
He risks a trial for abuse of power by a company director, breach of trust, corruption and active influence peddling, in a case in which 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 the Renault-Nissan group. He found refuge in Lebanon at the end of 2019 after an incredible escape from Japan.
His lawyers were not immediately available for comment.
The final decision on whether to hold a possible trial rests with the 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.
