Rachida Dati assures that she has "nothing to regularize" in her declaration of assets

Culture Minister Rachida Dati assured Wednesday that she had "nothing to regularize" in her asset declaration, after being accused by a Libération investigation that claimed she had omitted €420,000 worth of jewelry. "I have nothing to regularize. I've never been found wanting in any declaration. So it's not going to start today," the minister declared on France Inter.

In mid-April, the newspaper Libération claimed that Rachida Dati had provided erroneous asset declarations, omitting to include 19 pieces of jewelry, totaling €420,000, held since 2017.

"She must regularize the situation if it were true," government spokeswoman Sophie Primas responded, specifying that the Minister of Culture would file a defamation complaint. The minister confirmed this complaint on Wednesday and implicated the journalist who wrote the article, Laurent Léger, who she said was "a close friend of Ms. (Anne) Hidalgo," the mayor of Paris, whom she regularly opposes in the capital. "I'm used to it, I'm filing a complaint," she declared.

According to Libération, Rachida Dati's latest statement, published by the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP) in June 2024, reports assets of "some 5.6 million euros in the form of real estate in France and Morocco, current accounts, life insurance, and savings products."

But there was no mention of jewelry, even though politicians are required to declare it when its individual value exceeds €10,000. The HATVP can take legal action if it detects fraudulent intent or a substantial omission.

Rachida Dati is also the subject of a judicial investigation in another corruption case, alongside former Renault/Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn . The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) has requested that she be tried for corruption and influence peddling, in an indictment that she requested be nullified in March.