Rachida Dati's lawyers secured what their client wanted: The Paris criminal court will not try the outgoing culture minister and Paris mayoral candidate before the municipal elections, scheduled for March 15 and 22, 2026. Following a procedural hearing, the court on Monday, September 29, set her trial dates for September 16 to 28, 2026, over six half-days. She faces charges of "passive corruption and influence peddling" and "concealment of abuse of power and breach of trust" in a case linked to former Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.

Dati will be tried for having received, as a lawyer, €900,000 between 2010 and 2012 from Renault-Nissan BV, the company's Dutch subsidiary, under a fee agreement signed in October 2009 by her and Ghosn. Investigating judges "were able to identify very little evidence of the existence and reality of the services provided by Ms. Dati in execution of the agreement" while she was serving as a member of the European Parliament (2009-2019). She is suspected of having lobbied by "agreeing to act as a go-between, even a Trojan horse for Mr. Ghosn and Renault within the European Parliament."

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