French Culture Minister Loses Appeal in Passive Bribery Investigation

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The investigating office of the Paris Court of Appeal has rejected a request by lawyers for French Culture Minister Rachida Dati to end the prosecution proceedings related to the Carlos Ghosn affair.

In charges dating back to 2021, Dati is being investigated for payments totaling $950,000 (€900,000) she allegedly received between 2010 and 2012 from a subsidiary of the Franco-Japanese auto alliance Renault-Nissan, while it was under the leadership of disgraced auto tycoon Ghosn.

She is accused of “passive corruption by a person who held elected office at the time” and “benefiting from abuse of power” in connection with allegations that she received money in exchange for lobbying services in the European Parliament.

Dati, who is a lawyer by profession, was an MEP from 2010 to 2019. She has categorically denied the allegations.

The politician’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision.

“We advise Mrs Dati to take the case to the Court of Cassation because we believe that the law is on our side,” Olivier Pardo and Olivier Bluche told the press after the judgment.

“This decision has no impact on the innocence of Mrs. Dati,” they added.

Ghosn – who now lives in Lebanon after fleeing Japan in 2019 where he faced corruption charges linked to his time at the helm of Nissan – has denied any direct relationship with Dati, saying the fees she received were for legal work.

Dati, who previously served as spokesman for center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential campaign and as justice minister from 2007 to 2009 under his presidency, was appointed French culture minister in January by centrist Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

His appointment took the French cultural world by surprise and comes just days after Attal was catapulted to the post of prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron, as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at reinvigorating his flagging presidency.

Since taking office, Dati has found herself grappling with the public broadcasting sector with plans to merge, in the style of the BBC, the various units grouped by the public networks France Télévisions and Radio France under one roof.

At the same time, his term is coming to an end due to the snap elections called by Macron. The far-right National Rally (RN) party is currently on track to win the largest number of seats in the second round of voting on July 7, which is expected to oust the president’s centrist government from power.