SARKOZY ALLY CHARGED IN GHOSN CASE

PARIS French right-winger Rachida Dati, pictured, has been charged over payments she received from disgraced former Renault boss Carlos Ghosn amounting to almost a million euros.

Dati, a former justice minister in ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy's administration, Wednesday dismissed the charges as a political smear ahead of next year's presidential elections.

She is considering running in the primaries for her conservative party, the Republicans.

France's financial crimes unit said it was placing Dati under official investigation for “passive corruption by a person holding an elective mandate” and of “benefiting from abuse of power.”

The charges relate to consulting work she did for Ghosn from 2010 to 2012, when she was also a member of the European Parliament.

The charges could yet be dropped if magistrates decide their serious suspicions of guilt are unfounded. Dati, 55, denies any wrongdoing.

According to a source close to the investigation, Dati, mayor of Paris's 7th district, received euros 900,000 in lawyer's fees from 2010-12.