French judges question fugitive former Nissan exec Carlos Ghosn in Beirut

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On Monday, former Renault Chief and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Chair Carlos Ghosn was questioned by French investigating judges in a hearing in Beirut in what had been Ghosn’s first appearance in front of legal representatives after fleeing Japanese prison back in 2019.

Previously, shortly after his escape from Japan, where he was being held over charges of embezzlement of company funds and financial misconducts, Carlos Ghosn, the architect of Renault-Nissan auto alliance who had helped Nissan emerge from near-bankruptcy at least twice, said in a press meet that he hoped to clear his in name on misconduct charges against him.

Meanwhile, as French prosecutors were looking for clues into Ghosn’s tie-ups with embezzlement of company funds through a Dutch affiliate along with a car dealership in Oman, Ghosn’s army of lawyers said in a statement that Brazil-borne Carlos Ghosn, having had French, Lebanese and Brazilian Citizenship, would be treated as a witness in the case adding, “It is the very first time that our client can explain himself in front of the judges with his lawyers sitting next to him and after preparing his defence.

It is the very first time of justice for Carlos Ghosn since he was arbitrarily arrested in Japan. ”

Ghosn faces French probe on Renault’s financial flows

Aside from that, latest hearings in Lebanon, scheduled to be continued at least until June 4, followed a backlash in one of the cases Ghosn had been facing off, as a Dutch court had ordered him to disburse about €5 million in wages to Nissan and Mitsubishi.

Nonetheless, the French probe on Ghosn who denied any kind of wrongdoing and had been held in Japanese prison over a year without any solid proof against him, has been largely centred on pension and severance payments in Renault what he argued as due, while French investigators were looking into financing of events including a party at the Sumptuous Palace of Versailles and whether Ghosn was allegedly used company resources to host parties that actually had been arranged for personal purposes.