The judicial noose is tightening on Rachida Dati. Confirmed on September 21 in her position at rue de Valois in the government of Michel Barnier, the Minister of Culture could be the subject of a trial. How I learned the world before the National Finance Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), it requested, in its final indictment, issued on November 13, the referral to the mayor’s criminal court (Les Républicains) of 7my district of Paris for “concealment of abuse of power and breach of trust”, “corruption and passive peddling of influence by a person vested with an elective public mandate within an international organization” (in this case, the European Parliament) in the context of the Carlos process The Ghosn affair, named after the former CEO of Renault-Nissan (2005-2019), the subject of two international arrest warrants from French justice and a fugitive in Lebanon.
It is now up to the investigating judges to issue their order and rule on the dismissal of Ms.me Dati before the criminal court. Contacted, M’s lawyersme Dati, Olivier Pardo and Olivier Baratelli, affirm that“An indictment is just the prosecution’s view of a case. It does not reflect reality. Although all evidence of Rachida Dati’s innocence has been provided, this accusation goes against all the elements, testimonies, documents and documents provided. »
The PNF also requested the referral of Carlos Ghosn to criminal justice for “abuse of powers by the director of the company, abuse of trust, corruption and active influence peddling.” Contacted by the worldHis lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, was determining his position on this accusation.
The PNF requested the dismissal of the procedure in relation to the contracts concluded between the Dutch subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Renault-Nissan BV (RNBV), and the company AB Conseil, the company of lobbyist Alain Bauer, said an assisted witness. since 2021.
“They never informed me of their intervention”
The investigating judges focus on the fees (900,000 euros without taxes for supposedly 900 hours of work) paid to Mme Dati as a lawyer, from 2010 to 2012, by the RNBV. At this moment M.me Dati was a member of the European Parliament, substitute member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. However, lobbying activities are prohibited in the European Parliament.
The investigating judges doubt the reality of the minister’s work. Apart from some general notes, the judges found few traces of his alleged services: absence of annual activity reports of Mme Dati, linked to Mr. Ghosn by a confidential fee agreement signed in October 2009, related to “the group’s international expansion policy, particularly in the countries of the Middle East and the Maghreb” ; absence of expense reports for possible trips abroad; rare encounters between Mme Dati and M. Ghosn; “lack of documentation” able to justify payments, absence of “detailed invoices” of meme dati and “written termination indicating the end of the [s]a mission »according to an audit carried out in 2019 of the management of the RNBV.
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