Ghosn accuses Nissan executives of ‘backstabbing’ plot

TOKYO: Carlos Ghosn has accused ‘backstabbing’ Nissan executives of a ‘conspiracy’ that led to his arrest, in a video revealed yesterday by his representatives.

The video was recorded shortly before Ghosn was rearrested last week by prosecutors in Tokyo on new allegations.

He had been out on bail while facing three charges of financial misconduct.

In the brief video, played by his lawyers at a press conference, Ghosn repeated that he was “innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me.”

He denounced a ‘conspiracy’ against him and said events had been ‘twisted in a way to paint a personage of greed, a personage of dictatorship’.

“This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about

This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing. Carlos Ghosn

backstabbing,” he said in the video.

Ghosn did not however name specific individuals at Nissan, with his lawyer saying that the defence team had opted to cut parts of the recording that pointed the finger at particular figures.

Ghosn was rearrested by prosecutors last week while out on bail in Tokyo after they announced they were investigating new allegations against him.

A court has extended his detention until April 14, when prosecutors can apply to hold him for an additional 10 days before they must release him unless they bring charges or file new allegations.

Prosecutors said Ghosn had been detained over transfers of Nissan funds totalling US$15 million between late 2015 and the middle of 2018 to a dealership in Oman.

They suspect around US$5 million of these funds were siphoned off for Ghosn’s use, including for the purchase of a luxury yacht and financing personal investments.

Prosecutors accuse Ghosn of having ‘betrayed’ his duty not to cause losses to Nissan ‘in order to benefit himself’.

Ghosn already faces three formal charges: two of deferring his salary and concealing that in official shareholders’ documents, and a further charge of seeking to shift investment losses to the firm. — AFP

Journalists look on as Junichiro Hironaka (second right), lawyer for Ghosn, plays a video message recorded by Ghosn before his most recent rearrest, during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. — AFP photo