The hypothesis was possible but far from being confirmed. However, this is the most complicated scenario for Rachida Dati, the current Minister of Culture, who was detained by the courts: the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) filed charges against her, as well as against the former boss of the group automobile Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn, a trial before the criminal court notably for “corruption” and “influence peddling”. The decision dates from Wednesday November 13 but it was announced this Friday November 15 by the ministry itself.
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.
The facts alleged against Rachida Dati
The Minister of Culture 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. She was then a lawyer and MEP (2009-2019). We do not know what this sum would have been used for but the PNF suspects the elected politician as well as Carlos Ghosn of having used it to hide lobbying activity in the European Parliament.
In detail, the financial prosecutor's office confirmed having requested a trial against Rachida Dati for “concealment of abuse of power” and “breach of trust”, “corruption” and “passive influence peddling by person invested with public elective mandate within an international organization”, the latter therefore being the European Parliament.
What the minister responds
“An indictment is only the prosecution’s view of a case. It does not reflect reality,” Rachida Dati’s lawyers responded to AFP. The Minister of Culture, who was also Minister of Justice under Nicolas Sarkozy – between 2007 and 2009 – considers these facts prescribed in particular. She has already increased the number of appeals in this direction to put an end to the proceedings. 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 former boss, arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan, fled the country and found refuge in Lebanon in 2019.
The final decision on holding a possible trial rests with the investigating judges in charge of the case, the PNF specifying that an appeal is still being studied before the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.
