France's ex-culture minister Rachida Dati is to go on trial Wednesday on corruption charges linked to dealings with the Renault-Nissan group, just months after her bruising defeat in the Paris mayoral race. One of the most prominent figures on the French right, Dati, 60, will stand trial with the fugitive Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former Renault-Nissan chief, who will be tried in absentia. Dati has been dogged by controversies for much of her political career.
She resigned as culture minister in February to concentrate on the Paris mayoral race, but lost to Socialist rival Emmanuel Grégoire in March. Read moreFrench mayoral elections: Fractured vote reshapes alliances ahead of runoff In 2019, she was placed under investigation on suspicion of lobbying for Renault-Nissan between October 2009 and February 2013 when she was a member of the European parliament. She became an MEP after serving as justice minister between 2007 and 2009 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In 2021, she was charged with corruption and influence peddling over her dealings with Ghosn. She is accused of accepting 900,000 euros (around $1 million) in lawyer's fees from a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Renault-Nissan. Dati, who is still mayor of the French capital's wealthy 7th district, denies the allegations.
She faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to €450,000, if convicted. She could also face a five-year ban on holding public office. Her legal team said Dati worked "exclusively" as a lawyer for the Netherlands-based subsidiary.
"Unfounded allegations of influence peddling in the European Parliament stem from an artificial intellectual construct devised by the prosecution," her lawyers said. French prosecutors argue that a legal services contract signed in 2009 between Dati and Ghosn, under which the former minister was paid an annual fee of 300,000 euros, was used to disguise lobbying work. Investigators obtained the contract in 2019 during a search of Renault's headquarters following Ghosn's arrest in Japan, in a separate case.
Ghosn, the 72-year-old former chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct, before being sacked by Nissan's board. Read moreFrance's culture minister to face corruption trial linked to Ghosn case He made a dramatic escape from Japan hidden in an audio-equipment box, landing in Beirut, where he remains as a fugitive. Ghosn faces a litany of charges, including abuse of power and bribery.
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