Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn filed a lawsuit in Lebanon against the Japanese automaker, demanding over $1 billion, the news agency AFP reported on Tuesday (June 20) citing a judicial official. The official said that Ghosn filed a suit with Lebanon’s top prosecutor “against Nissan in Japan and employees of the firm.” The lawsuit., which was filed in May, claimed that Nissan fabricated the charges against Ghosn leading to his arrest and prosecution and requested $1 billion in financial compensation.
Ghosn, the former chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct before he was sacked by the automaker’s board in a unanimous decision. In 2019, he jumped bail and escaped from Japan hidden in an audio-equipment box. He then landed in Beirut where he remains an international fugitive.
Learned of the lawsuit through media: Nissan
Speaking to AFP, Nissan said that it heard of the lawsuit through media reports and was trying to verify the information internally. The judicial official also told AFP on Tuesday that the judge has scheduled a court session in September that the defendants or their lawyers, whether Japanese or Lebanese, should attend.
Lebanon does not extradite its citizens, and judicial authorities banned Ghosn from travel. The former Nissan chairman holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationality.
Ghosn has denied the charges against him, arguing they were cooked up by Nissan executives who opposed his attempts to more closely integrate the automaker with partner Renault. Ghosn also said that he fled Japan because he did not believe he would receive a fair trial.
Turkey acquits three in retrial over Ghosn’s escape
On May 30, a Turkish court acquitted three people over Carlos Ghosn’s escape via Istanbul to Lebanon after fleeing Japan. A jet company executive and two pilots, who were detained, were convicted to four years and two months in jail in 2021 over the charge of migrant smuggling.
Speaking to the news agency Reuters, Mehmet Fatih Danaci, a lawyer for the jet operator executive, said that an appeals court ordered the retrial of the case and returned the file to the lower court.
“We appealed the ruling. In the retrial, the court acquitted our client, along with two pilots who were initially convicted,” Danaci added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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