Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan, has released a blistering video message attacking the executives who “backstabbed” him and accusing them of playing a “very dirty game” that could jeopardise the future of the giant car maker, reports The Times.
In the video, recorded just before his most recent arrest last week, Mr Ghosn repeated his claims of innocence and claimed credit for 20 years of success at Nissan. The company had been close to failure before his arrival.
He said: “I’m innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me, and I’m also innocent of all the accusations that came around these charges. [They are] all biased, taken out of context, twisted in a way to paint [a picture] of greed, and . . . . of dictatorship.”
The video was screened by Mr Ghosn’s lawyers at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Mr Ghosn, 65, has French, Brazilian and Lebanese nationality. He was arrested five months ago after landing in Tokyo in his private jet. The wealthy businessman, who was also the head of Renault, has been charged with conspiring to conceal from Japanese regulators plans to pay himself tens of millions of pounds in post-retirement income, and with using the company to cover personal trading losses.
After finally being granted bail last month, he was rearrested last Thursday on suspicion of a new offence: paying to himself part of $5 million of Nissan money which was disguised as a reward for a car dealership in the Gulf state of Oman.
Neither Mr Ghosn nor his lawyers have responded in any detail to the claims made against him but he has vigorously denied them and insists that he is the victim of a boardroom coup by Tokyo executives prompted by his plans to merge Nissan and Renault.
“This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing, that is what we’re talking about,” he said on the video. “There was first a fear that the next step of the alliance, in terms of convergence and in terms of moving towards a merger, would in a certain ways threaten some people or eventually threaten the autonomy of Nissan.”
His words suggest that he was indeed pushing for a merger.
See more of this report (with video) from The Times (subscription required).