« Empty and renovated location [sic] to new in 2024” This is how the real estate advertisement published by the Eiffel Housing agency on its website opens. ” A stone’s throw from Place St Sulpice and the Luxembourg“, she offers accommodation located on rue Cassette, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Prepare solid tenant files: “ The apartment consists of a large entrance gallery leading to the West on the street, a large corner reception room of approximately 50m2, a separate fitted kitchen, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an office which can be transformed into a 5th bedroom with its own independent exit.» All on 225 m2 in total, with a ceiling height of 4.20 meters.
Such comfort comes at a price, especially in the capital: you will have to pay €12,500 monthly rent to live on the first floor of this beautiful 18th century mansion…
Come to my house, I live with an ex-CEO
Between June 2019 and July 2024, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, lived there without paying rent, according to the daily. ReleaseThis luxury apartment belongs to a Jordanian businessman, who is now renting it out again, but the leaseholder at 21 rue Cassette was for a long time Henri Proglio, former CEO of Veolia and EDF.
Together, Dati and Proglio formed a duo that made headlines in the tabloids. They met in the mid-1990s and grew up together, more or less closely. According to Release« Proglio has been very regularly at Dati’s side. Financially in any case. “, the daily newspaper emphasizes, detailing some evidence of the businessman’s generosity.
In June 2019, they moved in together on Rue Cassette, as Rachida Dati’s term in the European Parliament was coming to an end. In 2023, they would receive a visit from investigators, accompanied by a delegate from the Paris Bar Association, as part of a search for a preliminary investigation into acts of ” corruption » et « corruption laundering“, as well as for ” misuse of corporate assets » et « tax fraud laundering “, targeting Proglio and his years at the head of EDF.
Storm in the air
Even with 225 m2 and 4.20 meters of ceiling height, the apartment seemed too small for the couple when, in January 2024, Rachida Dati entered Gabriel Attal’s government, as Minister of Culture.
According to the survey of ReleaseProglio then slammed the door, taking it as an affront that Rachida Dati was going to work alongside Emmanuel Macron, who had refused to renew her position at the head of EDF in 2014, when he was Minister of the Economy, under François Hollande. He then allegedly terminated the lease, when Rachida Dati and her daughter remained on the premises, ” but at Proglio’s expense“, assures the daily. Asked about the subject, the latter refused to answer.
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For more than six months, the Minister of Culture will have benefited from a base in the 6th arrondissement, at the businessman’s expense. But, above all, is surprisedReleaseshe did not mention this information in her declarations of interests and assets, filed with the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life.
And for good reason: the minister and lawyer is within the rules, since this type of benefit in kind does not have to be included, the HATVP confirmed toRelease…
« Homeless Minister »
According to the daily’s investigation, Rachida Dati made fun of her situation this summer, derisively calling herself a “homeless minister“. It thus gives a whole new meaning to the expression “homeless“, since she actually has several real estate properties, this time mentioned in her declaration: an apartment in Hauts-de-Seine, a house in Saône-et-Loire, a house and an apartment in Morocco, while she herself resides, according to the document, in a duplex not far from the Champ-de-Mars.
The financial situation of the Minister of Culture had been particularly noted last July, when the Attal government was in the hot seat. She was in fact one of its richest members, easily winning the title of “multimillionaire » :Releaseassures that Henri Proglio himself was flabbergasted.
Rachida Dati’s lawyer, questioned byReleaseassures that it has always complied with its transparency obligations, and specifies: “My client does not intend to answer these questions which relate exclusively to her private life, past and present.»
Let us recall that Rachida Dati has been under indictment since 2021 for “corruption passive » et « passive influence peddling by a person holding a public elective mandate», suspected of having used her mandate as a European deputy (from 2009 to 2019) at the service of the Renault-Nissan group, for lobbying actions.
READ – Rachida Dati reappointed to the Ministry of Culture
The courts are particularly interested in fees of €900,000 paid by RNBV, a Dutch subsidiary of Renault-Nissan, between 2010 and 2012, while she was a member of the European Parliament. Rachida Dati claims that this sum was for her work as a lawyer and for assisting Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault-Nissan, in the international development of the firm.
In early July, the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the Minister of Culture’s appeal on the statute of limitations and the age of the facts, a procedure intended to close the ongoing investigation.
Photography: Rachida Dati (Laurent Vu, CC BY SA 3.0) and the corner of 21, rue Cassette (Wikimedia Commons / Mu, CC BY SA 3.0)
