Carlos Ghosn attacks Japan's judicial system in first appearance since escape

Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former chair of Nissan, maintained his innocence against charges of financial misconduct and lambasted the Japanese judicial system in his first public appearance on Wednesday, more than a week after his stunning escape from Tokyo.

The embattled former auto chief was first arrested in Japan more than a year ago and had been awaiting trial there on charges of financial wrongdoing, including allegedly under-reporting his future compensation and illegally funneling $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he owned by moving the funds through a Lebanon-based company. Ghosn has repeatedly asserted his innocence. Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty.

He's also under investigation by France.

He secretly fled from what he called a rigged justice system in Tokyo last month for Lebanon. The Japanese government has asked Lebanon to cooperate in investigating his escape, which took place when he was free on bail awaiting trial. Japan boasts one of the world's highest conviction rates, above 99 percent once suspects are charged.

“I was brutally taken from my world as I knew it,” Ghosn told reporters in Beirut, the Lebanese capital where he's taken refuge. “I was ripped from my family, my friends, from my communities, and from Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.”

GHOSN SMUGGLED OUT OF JAPAN IN A BOX LOADED ONTO PRIVATE JET

Ghosn, as expected, alleged that he was interrogated for up to eight hours a day by Japanese authorities and was held "definitively" in solitary confinement for 130 days after several failed attempts at posting bail. He also claimed he was not permitted to have attorneys present when he was questioned and was only permitted to shower twice a week. Under the terms of Ghosn's bail, he was restricted from contacting his family, including his wife Carole. On Tuesday, prosecutors in Japan obtained an arrest warrant for Carole Ghosn on suspicion of perjury.

The 65-year-old, who is of Lebanese origin and holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian passports, was facing charges that could have landed him in prison for a decade.

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"There was no end in sight," he said. "Those conditions remained more or less the same, day after day, week after week, month after month. The feeling of hopelessness was profound."

But Ghosn, free to speak his mind, went beyond exculpating his own innocence, accusing Japanese prosecutors and government officials of conspiring to topple him. He accused executives at Nissan who were worried about the French automaker Renault taking control of the company of engineering his arrest, including former CEO Hiroto Saikawa and senior executive Hitoshi Kawaguchi.

"There was no interest in finding the truth," he said. "There was strong interest in building a case against me."

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Ghosn led Nissan for two decades and is credited with spearheading a massive turnaround at the company beginning in the late 1990s, ultimately rescuing the automaker from the brink of bankruptcy.

Though he was initially heralded as a hero for his corporate exploits -- his work was chronicled in manga comic books in Japan, and he carried the Olympic torch before the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro -- his pay at times drew criticism from politicians and investors, including now-French President Emmanuel Macron.

"I revived a company that no one else before me was able to do," Ghosn said on Wednesday.

Although Japan is seeking Ghosn's return to the country -- officials prompted Interpol to issue a so-called red notice, or a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and arrest a fugitive -- it is not actually an arrest warrant and does not require Lebanon to arrest Ghosn. Still, it complicates travel for Ghosn and could make it dangerous for him to travel to France, where he is a citizen.

But Ghosn said he didn't consider what will likely be a lengthy stay in Lebanon, or living out his life as a fugitive of Japan, to be another form of imprisonment.

"Obviously I don’t consider myself a prisoner in Lebanon," he said. "I’m happy to be here. I’m with my friends, my family. I don’t feel at all unhappy. I’m ready to stay a long time in Lebanon."