Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday said his daring journey out of Japan was to escape “political persecution” as he accused Japanese prosecutors and Nissan executives of plotting against him.
Ghosn, speaking to a press conference in Beirut, painted him as the victim of an unjust Japanese system.
“I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and political persecution,” the fugitive said, pointing to his solitary confinement in what he called a tiny cell without windows and the alleged pressure put on him to confess. Interpol has issued a notice for his arrest.
Ghosn, who led the Japanese automaker Nissan for two decades, has repeatedly characterized the Japanese criminal case against him as meant to block a fuller merger with Nissan’s French alliance partner Renault.
Ghosn was charged with under-reporting his future compensation and with breach of trust in diverting Nissan money for his personal benefit. He has repeatedly said the compensation was never decided and the payments were for legitimate business.
Ghosn said he was interrogated for up to eight hours a day without any lawyers present and noted that Japanese authorities have a 99% success rate for prosecuting financial crimes.
He specifically pointed to former Nissan NSANY, +0.58% CEO Hiroto Saikawa and a director, Masakazu Toyoda, as among those conspiring with Japanese authorities. The one person Ghosn said was not part of the conspiracy was Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister.
Associated Press Ghosn also mentioned several times how he was prevented from meeting his wife, Carole, who also has been charged by Japanese authorities.
The press conference — in English as well as Arabic, French and Portuguese — delved not just into allegations of illicit compensation that Ghosn denied but the alliance between Nissan and Renault.
Ghosn said the alliance — which he said he was trying to enlarge to include Fiat Chrysler FCAU, +0.48% — has effectively fallen apart. Nissan executives, correctly, surmised that the way to reduce Renault’s RNO, -0.51% impact on Nissan was to get rid of him, Ghosn said.
Ghosn also said he proposed a holding company between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors but with Japanese and French headquarters.
He also denied having a Netflix NFLX, +0.85% deal for his escape.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Ghosn had a 300-mile sprint across Japan, from his court-monitored home in Tokyo to the Osaka airport. He was then smuggled inside a large black box with breathing holes drilled in the bottom, into a waiting private jet, the report said.
Ghosn declined to discuss the details of his escape at the press conference, though he said he planned his escape after losing any hope for a fair trial and repeated postponements of the trial. He said he would stay in Lebanon for now but said he wanted to challenge the Japanese case.
Ghosn said he was blessed to be citizens of three countries — Lebanon, France and Brazil — that do not extradite their citizens.
“I can do a lot and I want to clear my name,” he said.
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