PARIS — French Culture Minister Rachida Dati and former Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn will face trial on charges of corruption, a Ministry of Justice official confirmed.
Dati is being charged with “passive corruption and influence peddling by a person holding elective public office within an international organization (in this case, the European Parliament),” the official, who was granted anonymity in accordance with standard practice for reporting on certain criminal cases, said in a statement.
Ghosn, who is considered a fugitive by both France and Japan after his daring escape from Tokyo in 2019, is accused of “abuse of power by a company executive,” “breach of trust” and “active corruption and influence peddling.”
The statement claims that Dati received €900,000 between 2010 and 2012 from a Renault subsidiary, officially for consultancy work. However, investigators allege she performed little or no actual consulting and was instead paid to use her position at the time as a member of the European Parliament to lobby on behalf of Renault and its then-chairman.