Rachida Dati faces trial in Paris over alleged Renault-Nissan corruption deal

Wednesday 16 September 2026 - 15:58

Former French minister Rachida Dati is standing trial in Paris over allegations that €900,000 paid by a Renault-Nissan subsidiary between 2009 and 2013 were linked to efforts to advance the carmaker’s interests while she was a member of the European Parliament.

The proceedings, which began on September 16 and are scheduled to run through September 28, place Dati alongside former Renault-Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who is being tried in absentia. Dati denies wrongdoing and maintains that the payments corresponded to legitimate legal work.

The case concerns a contract signed in October 2009 between Dati and RNBV, the Dutch entity used to coordinate the Renault-Nissan alliance. Under the agreement, she was due to receive an annual fixed fee of €300,000 before tax.

Prosecutors and investigating judges have questioned whether the arrangement was genuinely for legal services or whether it concealed lobbying activity that would have conflicted with Dati’s responsibilities as a European lawmaker.

A disputed consulting agreement

The central issue before the Paris criminal court is the nature of the services provided under the contract.

Dati argues that she acted as a lawyer and adviser on matters involving Renault’s activities in regions including the Middle East and North Africa. Her defence has rejected the allegation that she used her position in the European Parliament to lobby on behalf of the company.

Investigators, however, have pointed to what they consider limited documentary evidence of the work allegedly carried out for the fees received. They have also focused on Dati’s parliamentary activity during the period, including three written questions relating to the automotive sector.

The timing of the agreement has also attracted scrutiny. Dati signed the contract in October 2009, several months before she formally became a lawyer at the Paris Bar in February 2010.

Her lawyers argue that the prosecution has constructed an artificial link between her legal work and her parliamentary activities. They are expected to call witnesses who, they say, can provide evidence of the services she performed for the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Ghosn will not attend the Paris hearing

Ghosn, who is also facing charges in the case, will not appear physically before the Paris court.

The former executive has been living in Lebanon since his dramatic escape from Japan in late 2019. He has challenged the way he was summoned to appear before the French court and has requested that the proceedings be postponed. He has also offered to participate remotely from Beirut.

Ghosn has previously disputed the allegations against him. During the French investigation, he described Dati’s role as involving business diplomacy and representation linked to Renault’s expansion in the Middle East and North Africa, rather than conventional legal services. That testimony has become an important element in the dispute over the purpose of the contract.

A case with political and legal consequences

Although Dati’s political position has changed since the period at the center of the investigation, the proceedings could still have consequences for her public career.

She remains mayor of Paris’s 7th arrondissement and faces a potential period of ineligibility if convicted and such a sentence is imposed. She also returned to the French judiciary in 2026 after more than two decades away from active judicial service.

Her political trajectory has already been affected by her unsuccessful bid in the 2026 Paris mayoral election. The trial now places the former justice minister and culture minister under renewed judicial scrutiny.

The case also raises broader questions about the boundaries between elected office, private legal work and corporate lobbying.

A test of the rules governing European lawmakers

At the heart of the proceedings is the question of whether a member of the European Parliament can simultaneously receive substantial private remuneration from a company whose interests may intersect with parliamentary work.

Investigators have argued that Dati’s parliamentary interventions could have benefited Renault and that her contractual relationship with the company was not adequately separated from her elected responsibilities. The defence disputes that interpretation and insists that her parliamentary actions did not constitute paid lobbying.

The case has attracted civil parties including Renault and Transparency International France. The latter has argued that the proceedings highlight concerns about private interests influencing public decision-making.

The court will ultimately have to determine whether the payments represented legitimate professional fees or were connected to the offences alleged by prosecutors.

Dati faces substantial penalties if convicted

Dati faces charges including passive corruption and passive influence peddling, as well as receiving the proceeds of alleged abuse of power and abuse of trust. The maximum prison sentence applicable to the offences in the case can reach 10 years.

For the former minister, the trial is therefore both a legal test and a decisive examination of the professional relationship she maintained with Ghosn and Renault-Nissan more than a decade ago.

For the French justice system, the proceedings will also examine the increasingly important boundary between political representation, regulated professions and corporate influence.