Rachida Dati, former French culture minister and current mayor of Paris's 7th arrondissement, has gone on trial in Paris on corruption charges linked to her dealings with the Renault-Nissan carmaking group. Because nothing says "culture" quite like a €900,000 legal fee from a car conglomerate.

Dati, 60, is accused of illegal lobbying while she accepted €900,000 (£770,000) in lawyer's fees from a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Renault-Nissan during her time as a member of the European parliament. The court will now have the unenviable task of determining what, exactly, that money was for - a question that has apparently stumped everyone except, presumably, Dati's accountants.

Her legal team denied all corruption allegations, insisting she worked "exclusively" as a lawyer for the Renault-Nissan subsidiary. French prosecutors, however, argue she was instead paid to lobby for the carmaking group - an activity explicitly banned for MEPs, who are meant to legislate, not moonlight as automotive influence peddlers. Prosecutors also noted a conspicuous lack of evidence that Dati actually carried out any legal work, which is generally considered a key component of being a lawyer.

Dati was placed under investigation in 2019 on suspicion of illegally lobbying for Renault-Nissan between October 2009 and February 2013, while she was an MEP. She is on trial alongside Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former Renault-Nissan chief, who will be tried in absentia - because showing up is apparently optional when you've already mastered the art of the dramatic exit.

Ghosn, 72, was detained in Japan in November 2018 amid allegations of financial misconduct in a separate case involving a plot to falsify records about his personal pay in order to enrich himself. He dodged trial in Japan after escaping to Lebanon in an audio equipment case - a sentence that raises more questions than it answers, yet somehow remains entirely accurate. He has denied all wrongdoing in the Japan case as well as in the Dati case.

French prosecutors argue that a legal services contract signed in 2009 between Dati and Ghosn, in which Dati was paid an annual fee of €300,000, was used to disguise lobbying work. Investigators obtained the contract in 2019 during a search of Renault's headquarters following Ghosn's arrest in Japan - a search that presumably turned up more than just car parts.

Dati, who is the district mayor of the 7th arrondissement in Paris, is one of the most prominent figures on the French right. She was the first woman of north African and Muslim heritage to hold a major French government post when she was appointed justice minister by the rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy. She later returned to government under Emmanuel Macron as culture minister - a portfolio that, one assumes, did not include overseeing legal fees from car companies.

Dati redefined political celebrity in France, and has said growing up as the second of 11 children on a low-income housing estate on the outskirts of Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy gave her a greater understanding of the French electorate. She ran for mayor of Paris earlier this year but lost to the Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire - a setback that presumably stings slightly less than a potential prison sentence.

If convicted, Dati faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to €450,000. She could also face a five-year ban on holding public office - which would put a considerable dent in a political career that has already survived more plot twists than a French New Wave film.

Dati's lawyers said: "Unfounded allegations of influence peddling in the European parliament stem from an artificial intellectual construct devised by the prosecution." Which is lawyer-speak for "we're going with 'you can't prove it' and hoping for the best."

In a separate investigation, Dati has been accused of accepting nearly €300,000 in undeclared payments from the energy group GDF Suez, also while an MEP. Prosecutors said last year they were looking into reports Dati failed to declare jewellery and watches worth €420,000 upon taking ministerial office - because nothing says "public service" like forgetting to mention the watches. She has denied any wrongdoing in all cases, presumably with the same vigour she applied to her legal work for Renault-Nissan.