Carlos Ghosn, Mum on Tokyo Escape, Unleashes a Rambling Defense

“As a shareholder of Nissan, I say, ‘Who is protecting me?’” he said.

Nissan ‘colluded’ with prosecutors, he said.

Mr. Ghosn pushed his theory that his arrest was the work of Nissan executives motivated by the fact that Nissan’s performance had begun to decline.

And, he said, the charge of underreporting income isn’t one that should have landed him in jail.

Mr. Ghosn has also claimed the charges against him were an effort by Nissan and Japanese officials to prevent a merger with Renault.

Taking questions from reporters, he said that rather than a merger, he had proposed creating a holding company that would have had one board of directors but allowed Nissan and Renault to continue operating as separate companies.

Mr. Ghosn says he was a victim of ‘character assassination.’

He defended a lavish party that he held at the Palace of Versailles in 2016 that has been the subject of an investigation by French prosecutors. At question is whether the party was a misuse of company money, because it coincided with Mr. Ghosn’s wedding to his second wife, Carole, and with her 50th birthday.

Mr. Ghosn said the party had emerged from a pre-existing relationship between Versailles and the auto alliance.

Still, he said, “obviously this is not a very cheap party.”

One of the major public criticisms of Mr. Ghosn has involved houses that reports have said Nissan bought for his benefit. The properties include those in Rio de Janeiro and Beirut.

On Wednesday, Mr. Ghosn argued that the houses had been bought with the assent of top officials at Nissan. He displayed documents that he said showed that Greg Kelly, his onetime lieutenant, and Hiroto Saikawa, his successor as chief executive and one of the company officials he blames for his downfall, had signed off on the purchases.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/business/carlos-ghosn-beirut.html?emc=rss&partner=rss