French investigating judges traveled to Beirut in late February and early March 2022 to hear Carlos Ghosn, former chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, who took refuge in the Lebanese capital after his escape in a trunk from Japan in December 2019: he had spent more than three months in prison in Tokyo before being placed under house arrest. French justice issued an international arrest warrant in April 2022 as part of an investigation, in particular for misuse of corporate assets and money laundering.
Carlos Ghosn would have received directly, without having informed Renault, large sums of money paid by the Omani billionaire businessman Suhail Bahwan, distributor of Renault-Nissan vehicles in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Second case in progress: the party given at the Palace of Versailles on March 9, 2014, paid for by Renault, to celebrate the alliance with Nissan. Carlos Ghosn would have invited a large number of relatives with no connection to the alliance out of the 154 guests. And justice suspects him of having taken the opportunity to also celebrate his birthday…
“When I see the relentlessness of the investigating judges in France…”
“On Versailles, it was not my birthday since it took place the next day. There was a list of people we had invited at the last minute because there were people who withdrew, in particular our Russian and Chinese friends who refused to come to Versailles at the last minute, he explains in an exclusive interview granted to the magazine 1:15 p.m. on Sunday (replay). As we had already paid for everything, we completed so as not to leave the room a quarter empty with a certain number of people who, I believe, should have been present because in a direct or indirect way they had served the alliance. We gave all these explanations, but whoever does not want to listen does not listen.
Does he trust French justice? More than in Japanese justice? “So there, yes, frankly. Whatever the evils that may exist in France, frankly, it has nothing to do with Japanese justice. They completely destroyed me. It’s done, the Japanese have won. That being said, when I saw what I suffered in Japan, and all that happened… and when I see the relentlessness of the investigating judges in France… I still have some doubts. The only reasonable thing for those who love justice and really want to know what the reality of things is, is the transfer of the files, which are linked between Japan and France, to the Lebanese justice and that it treats a once and for all in this case I wish to be judged here [au Liban] and let’s get it over with.”
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