Former automotive executive Carlos Ghosn. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn said Friday that the French international arrest warrant issued against him on Friday had “suspicious” timing.
Here’s what we know:
• Ghosn’s comments came during a live interview conducted in Lebanon with French television channel BFM TV. He described the warrant as being issued during “a politically charged period,” before the second round of the French presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday, and the Lebanese parliamentary elections. The former Nissan head said that under French law he would be “innocent until proven otherwise.”
• Ghosn said that he would be willing to answer all accusations despite how the “secrecy of the investigation has been violated since the start.” Nonetheless, he said that his ability to travel to France depends on the “Lebanese judiciary,” referring to the travel ban in force against him.
• The investigation targeting Ghosn concerns payments made between RNBV, a Dutch subsidiary company representing the Renault-Nissan alliance, and Omani automobile distributor Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. Ghosn said he considers the latter being “at the heart of the matter,” adding that “not a cent” from Renault or Nissan had been “unduly given” to him.
• Ghosn said that the French investigation is based on “unreliable” information supplied by the Japanese judiciary, which detained Ghosn in 2018 over charges of financial misconduct until he jumped bail in 2019, claiming it was using documents “stolen from [his] home in Lebanon.”