Carlos Ghosn, the enigmatic former auto industry impresario turned international fugitive, spoke to the media for the first time since his arrest on Wednesday. In a meandering presentation from Beirut that lasted more than three hours, Ghosn accused his former employers at Nissan of working hand-in-glove with Japanese prosecutors to orchestrate trumped-up charges against him, compared his plight to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and explained why he decided his only option was to flee Japan to the friendlier confines of Lebanon, which he did under the cover of night last week, reportedly inside a musical equipment box on a private jet.
Ghosn told the assembled press that he was "brutally taken" from the world he knew when he was arrested for the first time in November 2018, and his ensuing ordeal in Japan amounted to a human rights violation, in which prosecutors held him in solitary confinement, repeatedly denied him access to legal counsel and contact with his family, and attempted to coerce him into a confession that he misused company funds and underreported his income.
"I did not escape justice," Ghosn said, echoing the statement he put out immediately following his escape. "I fled injustice."
The former head of a sprawling automotive empire who was credited with turning around Nissan when no one else could, Ghosn was in the process of attempting to add Fiat Chrysler to the alliance he forged between Nissan and the French automaker Renault when he was first charged. He said he believes the Japanese government, which considers Nissan one of the country's crown jewels, was against that tie-up and attempted a "coup" to remove him from power. He noted that the share prices of both Nissan and Renault have suffered since he was fired and arrested, and their alliance is at risk of collapsing.
Alternating between French, English, and Arabic, gesticulating wildly, and referring to documents projected onto a screen behind him, Ghosn laid out what he said amounted to a conspiracy to rig the Japanese justice system against him, and said his escape was necessary to ensure he was given a fair trial. He said he was willing to present his case in court "anywhere where I think I could have a fair trial."
Japan's justice system is famously draconian, and successful for prosecutors ー 99 percent of indictments in the country result in convictions.
As Ghosn was speaking, Interpol added him to their list of "red warnings," essentially an international "most wanted" list, although, for some reason, the posting online did not include his photo ー despite him being among the most photographed fugitives in the world whose press conference was broadcast live around the globe.
Ghosn did not speak at length or in detail about his escape from Japan, but said he was used to "mission impossible" type situations. He said the decision to jump bail was the hardest of his life, but he made it when he came to the realization that he would likely not face trial for five years and would have to remain under house arrest and unable to speak to his wife or children. The Wall Street Journal reported that escape took months of planning, cost millions of dollars, and involved former Green Berets trained in hostage extradition, two private jets, and one wheeled-box used to carry concert gear that Ghosn hid in to evade security at the airport in Osaka.
While Ghosn held court, Lebanese state media reported that the country's top prosecutor has ordered him to come in for questioning on Thursday. Lebanon, which is currently without a functioning government, does not extradite its own citizens (Ghosn holds Brazilian, Lebanese, and French citizenships). But prosecutors there are under increasing pressure to take some kind of action against Ghosn, who remains a celebrity among the Lebanese people.
