France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) has requested the country’s cultural minister Rachida Dati stand trial for long-standing charges of conflict of interest and corruption.
The prosecutor, who announced the decision on Friday (November 15), also recommended that former president of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn face a criminal court for the case following its probe.
Dati is accused of having received €900,000 between 2010 and 2012 from a subsidiary of the French-Japanese Renault-Nissan alliance when it was under Ghosn’s leadership and hired Dati as a consultant after she stepped down as justice minister to stand for the European Parliament.
She is charged with “passive corruption by a person who at the time was holding an elective mandate” and “benefiting from abuse of power”, and it is said she received the money in exchange for lobbying services at the European Parliament.
In a statement issued over the weekend, Dati maintained her innocence and wrote: “This referral is not a conviction. This infamous indictment is shocking in more ways than one. The National Financial Prosecutor had told me, straight to my face, that the charges were not “criminal”.”
Dati said there was no irregularity in her fees and that her parliamentary post put her “in no position to exert any lobbying or influence whatsoever”. She called the accusations “a settling of scores” between prosecutors and Ghosn and explained “I am a collateral victim,” adding: “I face this new ordeal with serenity and determination.”
A judge will decide how to proceed. No court date has been set.
Ghosn, who is currently in Lebanon, has been targeted with an international arrest warrant in connection with this case since April 2023 and is the subject of investigations related to other financial cases worldwide.
The case has drawn the eyes of the world as the prosecutor’s office has been spotlighting it as an example of the increasing overlap of politics and corporations that has spilled over into the culture sector.
Dati was reappointed as France’s cultural minister in September after taking the reins in January. Known for her conservative politics, her initial appointment sparked backlash from the traditionally left-leaning local film and TV industry and trepidation that she would be a threat to independent filmmaking.
However since then she has allayed industry fears and pledged continued support for the country’s long-revered film system, maintaining the CNC’s operational €780m budget for 2025, keeping tax credits in place, and even increasing funding for heritage films and cinemas across France.
Lawyers for Dati responded to the PNF’s request, telling France’s AFP: “An indictment is only the public prosecutor’s vision of a case. It does not reflect reality.” They added: “A legal deadline has now been set, during which we will respond point by point to counter this fragmented and inaccurate vision.”
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