Will the second time be the charm? The Paris Court of Appeal will rule on Tuesday on the request of Minister of Culture Rachida Dati to end the prosecutions that have been targeting her since July 2021 in the Paris part of the Carlos Ghosn affair. The former Minister of Justice and ex-mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris is under investigation for corruption and passive influence peddling by a person holding a public elective mandate. She is suspected of having received 900,000 euros from RNBV, a subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, without compensation for real work, between 2010 and 2012, when she was a lawyer and member of the European Parliament (2009-2019).
In this case, Carlos Ghosn, who lives in Lebanon, has been the subject of an international arrest warrant since April 2023. The former automobile magnate and the Minister of Culture deny any irregularity.
Despite the failure at first instance, the Dati camp says it is calm
« We wait with serenity for the statute of limitations to be established. This is judicial evidence “, Olivier Baratelli and Olivier Pardo, two of the minister’s lawyers, told AFP. Everyone knew about Rachida Dati’s intervention as Renault-Nissan’s lawyer in 2009 and 2010. Everything is perfectly clear “, they assured.
Ms. Dati’s defense had already raised the limitation period for the facts in 2021 before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, in vain. Her lawyers contacted her again after the refusal of the investigating judges in charge of this case, opened in 2019, to examine a new request to note the prescription which was based, according to them, on “ new, fundamental elements » paid to the procedure.
The investigators also sought to determine whether this fee agreement could have been used to conceal lobbying activity in the European Parliament, which is prohibited for any elected official. The investigating magistrates had rejected this request on the grounds that the time limit, six months from the date of indictment in terms of limitation, had expired.
Without a prescription, Rachida Dati risks a criminal trial
Before ruling on the admissibility of this new request, the investigating chamber must first say whether or not it is transmitting to the Constitutional Council a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) on this time limit. Either the judges transmit the QPC, and therefore postpone their decision on the limitation period, or they reject it and look into the admissibility of the minister’s request.
If the statute of limitations is further set aside, Rachida Dati risks a trial before the criminal court. The investigations in this case have been completed since September 2023 and the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) should issue its final indictment soon. Then the investigating judges will order or not a trial.
But if the Minister of Culture wins her case, the proceedings against her will be dropped. According to two sources close to the case, the Advocate General requested during the hearing on May 7 that the limitation period be rejected. As a civil party in this case, Renault and its lawyers did not wish to speak.
