Rachida Dati on Thursday asked the Paris Court of Appeal to note the prescription of the offenses for which she is indicted in the investigation into contracts signed with RNBV, the Dutch subsidiary of Renault-Nissan, when Carlos Ghosn was the CEO.
The investigative chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, which examined his request Thursday morning, will render its decision on December 2, a judicial source told AFP.
At the end of an interrogation on July 21, Rachida Dati was indicted by two financial examining magistrates of the Paris judicial court for "corruption and passive influence peddling by a person invested with a public elective mandate" in the European Parliament, where she was elected at the time, and "concealment of breach of trust". A few months earlier, in November 2020, she had been placed under the more favorable status of assisted witness for these offenses.
In the meantime, the magistrates heard from Carlos Ghosn in Beirut, as part of international criminal assistance between France and Lebanon.
“As in 2019 [during the campaign for municipal authorities], we are trying to hinder my commitment in the coming deadlines!
", Had reacted to the newspaper Le Parisien Ms. Dati, a few days after her indictment.
“Justice is becoming instrumentalized for an unacknowledged political struggle,” she denounced.
900,000 euros in fees
The defense of the former Minister of Justice believes that no element of his remuneration has been concealed and that, moreover, the three-year limitation period for these offenses has been acquired since 2017.
The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) only opened an investigation in 2019 into contracts concluded by the Dutch subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, RNBV, then headed by Carlos Ghosn, after a complaint from a Renault shareholder .
The current mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris received 900,000 euros in fees as a lawyer between 2010 and 2012 when she was at the time also a Member of the European Parliament.
Justice seeks in particular to know if his income corresponds to specific activities or if it was a job of convenience that could have masked lobbying in the European Parliament, prohibited for MEPs.
In this case, criminologist Alain Bauer, RNBV security consultant for one million euros between 2012 and 2016 was placed under the status of assisted witness.
Carlos Ghosn's former right-hand man, Mouna Sepehri, and Renault's legal director until 2011, Christian Husson, were also placed under this status.
The auto mogul is not being prosecuted at this stage.
