An investigating judge at the Paris court issued an international arrest warrant in April against Carlos Ghosn, who lives in Lebanon, in the investigation of contracts signed by a subsidiary of Renault-Nissan, we learned Tuesday from a source familiar with the matter.
The fallen car tycoon is already targeted by an international arrest warrant issued by an investigating magistrate in Nanterre in April 2022 in the investigations, in particular for abuse of corporate assets and money laundering in an organized gang in connection with the Omani distributor Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. (SBA).
“Carlos Ghosn cannot leave Lebanon, the Lebanese authorities having prohibited him from leaving the territory because of the Japanese prosecution. He cannot therefore respond to summonses for an indictment in France”, reacted My Léon Del Forno and Martin Reynaud, lawyers for the former CEO. “Thus, this arrest warrant is neither more nor less than an attempt by the magistrates to continue their investigation, failing to be able to put Carlos Ghosn on trial,” they said.
The Parisian investigating judge issued this arrest warrant in April, after Carlos Ghosn did not show up for his summons for an indictment on May 19, 2022 for corruption in particular. This international arrest warrant could be the last act of the judicial investigation opened on July 10, 2019, in particular for corruption, corruption of an agent of a public international organization, influence peddling, abuse of corporate assets and concealment.
Once the investigations are closed, the national financial prosecutor’s office will have to take its requisitions then the investigating judge will order, or not, a trial. The arrest warrant equivalent to an indictment, Carlos Ghosn could be sent back to the criminal court. In this case, the suspicions relate to the 900,000 euros paid to Rachida Dati by RNBV, the Dutch subsidiary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, when Carlos Ghosn was the CEO.
Rachida Dati received these fees as a lawyer between 2010 and 2012 when she was also a Member of the European Parliament at the time. She has been indicted since July 2021 for “corruption and passive influence peddling by a person holding a public elective office”. Justice seeks in particular to know if its income corresponds to precise activities or if it was about a job of convenience having been able to mask a lobbying in the European Parliament, prohibited for the MEPs.
“The procedural entry of Carlos Ghosn into the file will make it possible to bring out the truth”, considered Mes Olivier Baratelli and Olivier Pardo, lawyers for Rachida Dati, who will seek a confrontation between the mayor of the 7th arrondissement and the former boss. from Renault.
