French Culture Minister Rachida Dati in Bayonne, France, November 26, 2025. Police searched Dati's home and office as part of a graft probe on December 18, 2025. GAIZKA IROZ / AFP
French police on Thursday, December 18, searched the homes of Culture Minister Rachida Dati, as well as the ministry and the Paris town hall she presides over, as part of a corruption probe, prosecutors said. The police raid comes as Dati, who heads the town hall in the seventh district of Paris, is campaigning to be elected mayor of the French capital next year.
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French culture minister's corruption trial complicates Paris' political landscape
Dati, 60, has been accused of accepting nearly €300,000 in undeclared payments from major energy group GDF Suez while a member of the European parliament between 2010 and 2011. She has denied any wrongdoing. The national financial prosecutor's office on Thursday said the raids came after it had opened an investigation on October 14 into Dati over possible corruption, influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds.
