Rachida Dati would have received 299,000 euros in fees from GDF Suez, which she had always denied – Liberation
A joint survey of two media uncovers documents from a law firm suggesting that Rachida Dati would have received 299,000 euros of « fees » not declared by GDF Suez in 2010-2011 when it was MEP and lawyer, which it refutes. The complementary investigation magazine, which will be broadcast this Thursday evening on France 2, and The Nouvel Observateur put these payments with regard to « Positions favorable to the gas sector » of Rachida Dati when she sat in the European Parliament (2009-2019).
The Minister of Culture, also indicted for passive corruption in the Carlos Ghosn case, has always challenged any contractual link with the French gas grouprenamed Engie in 2015, and denied any conflict of interest. « Madame Dati gave all her explanations and has never been the lawyer for GDF Suez », insisted its lawyers on Wednesday with AFP, my Olivier Baratelli and Olivier Pardo on Wednesday.
Brushing the portrait of dati in « bulldozer » of politics, the Additional investigation That AFP viewed on Wednesday reveals the existence of documents which are currently not in the hands of justice and would prove that it has been remunerated by the French giant. These documents come from the accounts of a law firm liquidated in 2019 and show the collection of two transfers of 149,500 euros each coming from GDF Suez and dated from July 2010 and February 2011. Each time, a few weeks after these operations, these same sums were disbursed by the firm for the benefit of Rachida Dati with the mention « GDF Suez Honorary Dati », According to the documents unveiled by both media. Contacted by AFP, Engie did not follow up immediately.
Rachida Dati has been questioned several times about her links with GDF Suez, in particular by the judges in charge of the Ghosn affair. At the end of 2013, the centrist MEP Corinne Lepage was surprised by the support provided by Rachida Dati to the claim of large energy groups, including GDF Suez, for the cessation of renewable subsidies. Questioned in Additional investigation, Corinne Lepage confirms that he was also surprised by the amendments deposited by Dati in Strasbourg in favor of gas groups.
In the Ghosn case, the former Minister of Justice of Nicolas Sarkozy is Charged since 2021 Due to 900,000 euros in lawyers that she would have received between 2010 and 2012, a Dutch subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Justice is trying to find out if these income may have masked lobbying activities, prohibited from MEPs. Rachida Dati refutes any irregularity.
