The French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) requested, this Monday (28), four years in prison for former minister Rachida Dati, accused of practicing corruption and influence peddling. In the same demand, the PNF asked that she be sentenced to five years of ineligibility with immediate effect. The body also asks that the former president of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, serve a four-year prison sentence, due to an international arrest warrant against him.
According to the indictment, Dati had received 900,000 euros from a Renault-Nissan subsidiary for a legal consultancy contract signed in October 2009. Prosecutors claim that the contract covered up lobbying in the European Parliament, where, according to her, Dati was a deputy. “The behavior that you judge has caused clear damage to democracy,” said prosecutor Carolina Genin to the French court.
Dati was Minister of Justice in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, as well as Minister of Culture in Emmanuel Macron’s government. She is currently mayor of a district in Paris. PNG is also asking that she be banned from practicing law and public office for five years. In this case, the demand would reach Dati’s current attempt to return to the judiciary. “It is unthinkable that such a reinstatement can proceed without seriously tarnishing the image of Justice,” said prosecutor Julien Augereau.
The defense will ask for acquittal, arguing that Dati provided real legal services to the Renault-Nissan alliance on issues linked to Morocco, Algeria and Iran. “What is being asked for against you is a civil death,” said lawyer Antoine Beauquier.
Ghosn was born in Porto Velho (RO) and is being tried in absentia. He has lived in Lebanon since 2019, when he fled Japan, where he was facing financial fraud charges. The court denied his request in August to participate in the hearings via video conference from Beirut.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
