Rachida Dati returns to the judiciary days before her corruption trial
Rachida Dati has requested her reinstatement as a magistrate at the Ministry of Justice, as she faces trial for corruption starting 16 September.
Dati obtains Justice post before criminal trial
According to Google News LU FR, Rachida Dati has obtained a post as "senior deputy in the central administration of justice" within the Ministry of Justice, days before the opening of her trial for corruption and passive trafficking of influence, scheduled from 16 to 28 September before the Paris criminal court. The Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) must still give its opinion, expected within a period of fifteen days to one month.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the request: "Ms Dati has requested her reinstatement as a magistrate, as she has the right to do, and will soon be assigned within the standard transparency procedure for magistrates." Rachida Dati is indeed a magistrate by profession, which legally opens this possibility to her.
Leading magistrates' union expresses reservations
The request has provoked a strong reaction from the Union of Magistrates (USM). Its president, Ludovic Friat, judges the timing problematic: "The judicial institution is being heavily criticised by political leaders, notably on the grounds of ethics and the responsibility of magistrates, but also on the need to preserve the image of the institution." He adds that "this project for reinstatement, days before a high-profile criminal trial concerning the person in question, sends a contradictory message".
Alleged facts between 2009 and 2013
At the heart of the criminal case is an alleged corruption pact: Rachida Dati is accused of engaging in illegal lobbying at the European Parliament, where she sat as an elected member from 2009 to 2019, on behalf of Renault and its chief executive at the time, Carlos Ghosn. Between 2009 and 2013, she allegedly received 900,000 euros under a fixed remuneration agreement for lawyers.
The former minister contests the accusations and maintains that she only carried out legal work as a lawyer. She faces a prison sentence of ten years as well as ineligibility for five years. She remains presumed innocent pending a court decision.
Other judicial proceedings in parallel
The name of Rachida Dati appears in several other ongoing cases. In a related file linked to the Renault-Carlos Ghosn affair, concerning a possible private investigation conducted against a couple who had implicated her, she has the status of assisted witness. Furthermore, judges are investigating her potential conflicting interests with Azerbaijan and Qatar during her mandate as a European deputy. Her home and the town hall of the 7th arrondissement of Paris were searched in December 2025 in this connection. A third aspect concerns suspicions of failure to declare jewellery to the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life; an investigation by the judicial police and the financial and anti-corruption squad is underway.
Political career of a controversial figure
Aged 60, Rachida Dati held the post of Minister of Culture under Emmanuel Macron between 2024 and 2026, which she left one month before the Paris municipal elections in March. Defeated in that ballot, she nonetheless remains mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris. A former Keeper of the Seals in 2007, she entered politics in the early 2000s alongside Nicolas Sarkozy.
Source: Google News LU FR