The repercussions of the case of Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn continues, as Rachida Dati, the former French Minister of Justice, was charged with “corruption” and “covering up the abuse of power.”
This is in the context of an investigation regarding her advisory services to Ghosn, when she was a deputy in the European Parliament, according to what was announced yesterday, Tuesday, by the Financial Public Prosecution.
In addition, a source close to the file told AFP, Dati received an amount of 900,000 euros for her fees as a lawyer between 2010 and 2012, knowing that at that time she was a member of the European Parliament. On the other hand, Dati denies the validity of this information.
The Financial Public Prosecution had opened a preliminary investigation following a complaint filed by a shareholder in Renault on April 17, 2019, against Dati, Alan Bauer, Ghosn and his wife.
The investigative judges seek to establish whether Dati’s income was the result of specific activities or a courtesy function to cover up the banned lobbying activities of European MPs.
Her defense denies the charges
Dati’s defense team asserted that no payment was made to her. Her lawyers stress that neither the European Parliament, the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, nor the Public Prosecutor decided to prosecute her, despite the media circulating on suspicions of conflict of interest between 2009 and 2015.
The right-wing Republicans party is currently the mayor of the 7th arrondissement in Paris, and she avoided prosecution, in November, after a 16-hour interrogation session, after which the investigative judges decided to consider her as an assistant witness.
Carlos Ghosn
But nine months later, Dati was again summoned for interrogation and charged with “passive corruption by a person with a general electoral mandate within an international organisation”, ie the European Parliament, And “covering up the abuse of power.”
Since the summer of 2019, three judges have been investigating a case of contracts concluded by the Dutch company RNPV, a subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, with Dati and a science specialist. The French crime, Alain Bauer, who is close to the center-left, and Ghosn was then the group’s CEO.
