Runaway former Nissan chair says he is victim of ‘inhumane system of hostage justice’
The former Nissan-Renault chair Carlos Ghosn has likened his arrest by Japanese prosecutors to Pearl Harbor as he spoke publicly for the first time since his audacious escape from Japan.
In an animated and lengthy press conference in Beirut, Ghosn blamed an elaborate conspiracy involving Nissan executives and Japanese prosecutors for his prosecution on charges of financial misconduct.
It was the first time the erstwhile giant of the automotive world had addressed the media since his escape from Japan.
Timeline
Carlos Ghosn
Ghosn is arrested by Japanese police at a Tokyo airport upon arrival in his private jet. This follows the arrest hours before of Nissan board member Greg Kelly, a key ally of Ghosn’s. Both are sent to a detention centre in Tokyo. Nissan and Mitsubishi say they will both remove Ghosn as chairman.
Misubishi sacks Ghosn as chairman, following a similar move by Nissan.
Prosecutors add to the charges against Ghosn and Kelly, who are accused of underreporting Ghosn’s income over five years to 2015. They are are rearrested on allegations of understating Ghosn’s income for three more years to March 2018.
Renault initially decides to retain Ghosn as chairman and chief executive after finding no irregularities in his pay packages.
Ghosn is re-arrested on allegations of aggravated breach of trust, accused of shifting personal investment losses to Nissan in 2008. The legal team for Kelly, who suffers from spinal stenosis and needs surgery, requests his release on bail, which is granted on 24 December after he pays 70 million yen (£507,025) in cash.
Ghosn proclaims his innocence during a court hearing, his first public appearance following his arrest. A judge says his continued detention is necessary due to flight risk and the possibility he could conceal evidence.
Nissan and Mitsubishi accuse Ghosn of receiving €7.8m (£6.9m) in “improper payments” from a joint venture between the Japanese carmakers.
Renault appoints Jean-Dominique Senard as chairman and Thierry Bolloré as chief executive after Ghosn resigns from both roles.
Ghosn accuses Nissan executives of a plot to oust him and prevent closer ties with Renault, in his first interview since his arrest in November.
Renault’s board of directors votes unanimously to strip Ghosn of up to €30m (£26m) in pay and severance.
Ghosn is released on bail and must live under strict bail conditions in Tokyo until his trial begins. His lawyer Motonari Otsuru quits.
Nissan shareholders sack Ghosn from the company board and replace him with Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard. A day later Ghosn accuses Nissan executives of conspiring against him in a video.
Ghosn’s lawyers condemn his latest arrest as “inhuman”, saying that it has interrupted the former Nissan chairman’s treatment for chronic kidney failure.
A court in Japan grants $4.5m bail to Ghosn but he must stay in Japan and is not allowed to meet his wife, Carole, without the court’s permission.
Ghosn flees court-imposed bail ahead of his trial and arrives in Lebanon. He issues a statement in which he says he will “no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed”. His escape is believed to have involved him being hidden in a musical instrument case that was then flown out of the country.
Julia Kollewe
Ghosn told the packed press conference he had been a victim of an “anachronistic and inhumane system of hostage justice”, pointing to a 99.4% conviction rate in Japan’s justice system.
“It’s not hard to come to the conclusion that you’re going to die in Japan, or you’re going to have to get out,” he said. “I did not escape justice, I fled injustice and political persecution.
“I was left with no other choice but to protect myself and my family. A risk one only takes if resigned to the impossibility of a fair trial.”
He accused Nissan executives in Japan of colluding with prosecutors and the government in a “systematic campaign by a handful of malevolent actors to destroy my reputation and impugn my character”.
The reason for the alleged conspiracy, he said, was Nissan’s declining performance and anger in Japan that Renault, backed by the French state, had greater voting rights in the alliance between the two carmakers.
He named three executives on the Nissan board whom he said were “petty, vindictive and lawless” individuals, and said the company had evidence that might exonerate him.
And in a comparison certain to enrage commentators in Japan, he compared his surprise arrest to the ambush of the US naval base Pearl Harbor in the second world war.
Ghosn said he had been a “role model” in Japan for 17 years before he was thrown in jail, where he said he had been kept in solitary confinement in a cell that was lit day and night, interrogated for eight hours a day without a lawyer, and denied showers and prescription medication.
“It will get worse for you if you don’t just confess, the prosecutor told me repeatedly,” Ghosn said.
“If you don’t confess, not only will we go after you, we’ll go after your family,” he claimed to have been told. “These allegations are untrue and I should never have been arrested in the first place.”
He said he did not want to give details of his escape from Japan, despite widespread interest in reports of an elaborate and complex plan to smuggle him out of the country.