Dramatic ‘downfall’ of Ghosn reverberates across Lebanon
Lawyers team up for his defense
BEIRUT, Dec 2, (AP): He may have fallen from grace internationally as one of the auto industry’s most powerful leaders, but Carlos Ghosn can count on continued support in at least one corner of the globe.
Lebanon has long held hopes that Ghosn, whose grandparents were Lebanese and who holds extensive development projects in the country, would play a bigger role in politics one day, or help rescue its increasingly sluggish economy.
But Ghosn, ex-chairman of Nissan Motor Co, was detained last month on allegations of underreporting his income, and on Friday, a Japanese court approved extending his detention for 10 more days.
Now, politicians across the board are mobilizing in his defense, with some suggesting his detention may be part of a political or business-motivated conspiracy, and the government even considering extraditing him from Tokyo to face trial here.
“To Carlos Ghosn in his predicament I say, a Lebanese phoenix will not be scorched by the Japanese sun,” Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said at a security conference in Beirut this week.
Lebanon, a tiny country of 4.5 million, takes excessive pride in its huge emigrant community and successful businessmen and celebrities of Lebanese heritage. They include Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim, Columbian singer Shakira, Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, LebaneseBritish barrister Amal Clooney and fashion designers Elie Saab and Reem Acra.
The Lebanese took special pride in the auto industry icon, who holds a Lebanese passport, speaks fluent Arabic and visits regularly, including a last visit right before he was detained in Tokyo. Born in Brazil, where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut, where he spent part of his childhood at a Jesuit school.
As he began his ascent in the auto industry, first with Renault and then by bringing Nissan in Tokyo back from the brink of bankruptcy, Ghosn kept in touch with old friends. He married twice, first to a Lebanese woman who resides in Beirut and again in 2016 to Carole Nahas, also of Lebanese heritage.
As a Maronite Christian, Ghosn’s name occasionally popped up as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he repeatedly dismissed suggestions he would run for office, saying he is not a politician. The post of presi-
In this file photo, Renault Group CEO Carlos Ghosn listens during a media conference at La Defense business district, outside Paris, France. The arrest of Nissan’s former chief executive Ghosn has raised doubts over the future of the alliance among automakers Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors that he helped forge. Such alliances wax and wane over time, but have grown in importance as companies develop electric vehicles, net connectivity and artificial intelligence for autos.
(AP)
dent is reserved for a Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian-based system of government.
Although the extent of his businesses in Lebanon is not known exactly, Ghosn has spoken in interviews about various real estate projects in the country and sits on the board of several universities, hospitals and charities. In 2012, he became a partner in the Lebanese winery IXSIR, and is a board member of family-owned Saradar Bank.
In 2017, the government honored him with a special postage stamp – a show of respect to a man considered a model of Lebanese entrepreneurial spirit.
So when news broke on Nov 19 that Ghosn, 64, had been detained on allegations he underreported millions of dollars in income, and that Nissan is accusing him of using company money for personal gain, people in Lebanon were stunned – and many were unconvinced.
Ghosn’s dramatic downfall has sparked various conspiracy theories, with some claiming that his arrest was a US ploy to punish him for resisting sanctions on Iran and others speculating it was an internal coup engineered by Nissan executives.
Melhem Riachi, the information minister, urged officials to intervene with the government of Japan, tweeting: “An investigation is extremely important. Something stinks.”