The former chairman of Nissan who was arrested in Japan in late 2018 has filed a $1bn lawsuit in Lebanon where he is being held.
Carlos Ghosn said he would fight “to the end” in a $1bn lawsuit filed by the former Nissan chairman against the Japanese carmaker, marking his first challenge.
Ghosn’s lawsuit, which he filed in Lebanon and a copy of which was seen by Reuters, includes allegations of defamation, defamation, libel and fabrication of material evidence against Nissan as well as 12 individuals and two others. companies.
A Nissan spokesman said it would not comment.
“We have a long battle ahead of us. We are going to fight it to the end,” Ghosn told Reuters in Lebanon on Tuesday, where he has lived since fleeing Japan hidden in a box aboard a private jet.
Ghosn’s lawsuit seeks $588m in lost wages, and another $500m in moral damages.
“What I’m asking for is little compensation compared to what they did to me,” the 69-year-old, wearing a blue open-necked shirt, said in an interview in Beirut.
Once a global auto industry titan, Ghosn was arrested in Japan in late 2018 and accused of underreporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds.
He denied the charges and said that his imprisonment was part of a plot against him by Nissan.
Ghosn fled Japan in December 2019 while he awaited trial and after arriving at his childhood home in Lebanon said he had escaped a “rigged” justice system and would clear his name.
Prosecutors in Tokyo previously said Ghosn’s allegations of a conspiracy were false.
‘must pay’
Asked whether he would expand his legal action to include Renault, part of the Nissan alliance he masterminded, Ghosn said his focus was now on Nissan.
“I don’t forbid anything for the future. Now we are concentrating on the Nissan scheme,” he said.
If found guilty, Nissan “will have to pay”, Ghosn said.
“It’s a big company and they have assets everywhere and you can follow their assets everywhere, so it’s not a joke,” he said. “I hope they give this amount of money and I hope they talk to their shareholders about what happened and why it happened,” he said.
Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, said he has not left Lebanon since 2019 because of an Interpol Red Notice issued by Japan.
“I’m stuck here. I can’t make a complaint of this size in another country,” he said, adding that putting his case together will take time with his legal team while they reconstitute the facts.
A judicial source in Lebanon said the prosecutor has scheduled a court session for September 18 to begin proceedings.
Ghosn said the documents were taken from his home in Lebanon under false pretenses on the day of his arrest in Japan and shared with Japanese authorities.
His lawsuit said “the sanctity of a home” was violated and said the crimes were committed in Lebanon, Japan, France, Brazil, the United States and the Netherlands.
“I have the intention to get my rights, to fix my reputation,” he said. “I will dedicate all the time necessary for the truth to prevail.”
