Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will today give his first public comments since fleeing Japan, where he was held on bail while awaiting charges for financial misconduct.
Ghosn is now in Beirut, Lebanon after escaping Japan late in December 2019 – reportedly by hiding in a musical instument case belonging to a Gregorian musical act. While no specifics of the press briefing have been given, Ghosn has vowed that he will fight to clear his name.
UPDATE: Carlos Ghosn trashes Nissan and Japanese legal system, reaffirms innocence
Ghosn was arrested in Japan on November 2018 on charges relating to his time as chairman of Nissan. The numerous charges include misusing company assets, underreporting his income and transferring personal investment losses onto Nissan foreign exchange dealing.
After spending 108 days in custody he was released on bail, with strict conditions that barred him from travelling abroad. His trial was due to begin in April 2020. In Japan Ghosn had been under constant surveillance, with restricted phone and internet usage, while his three passports – he has French, Brazilian and Lebanese heritage – are held by his Japanese lawyer.
According to Lebanese news channel MTV, Ghosn escaped with the help of a Gregorian music band and a team of ex-special forces members. It claims the musicians played a concert at his house, at the conclusion of which Ghosn – who is 5ft 6in – was hidden in one of the larger cases, possibly for a double bass. He was then taken to a small local airport, where a private Bombadier challenger jet was waiting to fly him to Lebanon.
That account had reportedly been denied by Ghosn's wife, Carole, although she gave no indication of how he did it. The involvement of a Gregorian band has also been questioned by classical music experts, who note they rarely perform with instruments.
After arriving in Beirut, the 65-year-old issued a statement to the media, saying: “I have not fled justice. I have escaped injustice and political persecution.”
He went on to attack the Japanese legal system, in which he claims “guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold”.
He continued: “I can now finally communicate freely with the media,” adding that he would start to do so next week."
One of Ghosn’s Japanese lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters in the country that they knew nothing about Ghosn leaving the country, and were still in possession of his passports. Hironaka said: “We told the court that we are in a bind as well. If he actually left this country, it violates the conditions for bail.” He added: “I don’t even know if we can contact him.”
Join the debate
Add your comment
In Japan, the prosecutors
In Japan, the prosecutors have the power to charge, arrest, try and execute. It's a kangaroo system where they will find you guilty by will. It's no different than the Stalinist system. Don't let those sly seemingly "shy" Japanese fool you. They are a brutal people with a violent history. Ghosn has only tasted what the Japanese people already know. An island of brutality and injustice. Stay inline and don't rock the boat or else you disappear....or in Ghosn's case you make yourself disappear
Hope you enjoy the Olympics.
You're talking rubbish, but even if it were true then Ghosn chose to work there ( or perhaps you think it was forced labour?) Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Secondly, if it were true the Japanese are brutal people with a violent history, I'd have thought fleeing to Lebanon would be going from the frying pan in to the frier?
Thirdly, if you are overly concerned with brutal histories then best leave the UK because there's be few more brutal than us.
"If it were true"? Are you f*cking kidding? Try reading some WW2 reports. They were the most brutal, blood-thirsty and down-right sadistic nation involved in the second world war. I couldn't even bring myself to write about the attrocities they commited.
Take your head out of your arse for a moment, do some research and educate yourself.
PS: I worked for a Japanese company for 8 years ( 2 in Nippon). I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them.
He doesn't like being called
He doesn't like being called out.
It's obvious.
I don't know how you know he
Innocent until proven guilty, but...
I have no idea whether Ghosn is innocent or not of the charges levelled against him - he hasn't stood trial afterall - but by leaving the country he doesn't cast himself in a positive light. Now if he were in some totalitarian state I might have some sympathy but I was not aware of Japan having a reputation for an injust judiciary. The World Justice Rule of Law Index ranks Japan as 15th in the world (the UK is 12th) for adherence to the rule of law.
It's all about perception...
...I guess, but the application of what is known as hitojichi shiho (roughly translating as hostage justice) has strengthened, or worsened, under Abe, a political influence that doesn't, or shouldn't, come to bear in Eurpoean justice systems for example. That said, there's nothing to suggest that it is being applied unfairly to someone like Ghosn, just that it's a reality that it's happening.
Added to that there is a suspicion, not entirely unfounded, that when the shit hits the fan, the Japanese will corral and find a way to make the foreigner responsible: see Michael Woodford, former Olympus president that blew the lid on the company's US$1.7Billion accounting hole and still has some struggles (my ex-wife worked with him at Keymed and helped him with the whistleblowing, so I know something of this). The two situations, however, are entirely different.
In respect of Ghosn, well, he's gulty of something now, but, far, far worse, he has abandoned Greg Kelly, his aide, to face the courts alone, and placed his own lawyers in a very difficult position which, if nothing else, makes him an utter scumbag. Nothing he will have to say in the coming days, weeks, months, will change that.
It is worth adding that the US SEC found that Greg Kelly provided Ghosn with a great deal of assistance to conceal more than US$90million of Ghosn's pay, plus an addition of US$50million to his retirement package. Without admitting to anything, Kelly paid $100,000 to make the charges go away and was barred from being a director in the US for five years.
The Colonel wrote:
How exactly would he have been able to help Kelly?
Help?
At a very basic, legal, level, Ghosn was a witness for Kelly's defence. Not any more, and any testimony that would (might) have proved valuable to Kelly is now in the bin.