The former boss of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn, has filed an appeal with the Lebanese courts against Nissan, claiming a billion dollars in damages from the Japanese group, a judicial source told AFP on Tuesday. . Carlos Ghosn was arrested at the end of 2018 in Japan where he was to be tried for alleged financial embezzlement when he was at the head of the Japanese group. The man, who has Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities, lives in Beirut after fleeing Japan in an incredible way at the end of 2019.
According to the judicial source, Carlos Ghosn filed an appeal in May before the Court of Cassation in Lebanon against Nissan and some of its employees. He believes that they “made up charges against him in Japan, which led to his arrest and the prosecution of him”. Carlos Ghosn claims “a billion dollars in compensation”. The date of the hearing has been set for mid-September, according to the judicial source.
A “plot” hatched by Nissan
Asked by AFP, the Nissan company did not comment on the subject, saying that it had discovered this legal action in the press and was seeking to verify this information internally. Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer in Lebanon did not respond to requests from AFP.
Already targeted by an Interpol red notice at the request of Tokyo, Carlos Ghosn has been the subject since April 2022 of a second arrest warrant, this time French, as part of an investigation for abuse of corporate assets, abuse of trust, organized money laundering and passive corruption.
Arrested in Tokyo in November 2018, Carlos Ghosn, who claims his innocence, had justified his escape by claiming to have wanted to “escape injustice”. He denounces a “plot” hatched, according to him, by Nissan with the support of the Japanese government, to bring him down and thus avoid a closer union with Renault. Due to the Interpol red notice, the Lebanese justice system banned him from leaving the country. Lebanon does not extradite its nationals.