Carlos Ghosn says he has filed a $1 billion lawsuit so Nissan managers ‘cannot sleep peacefully’

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Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said he has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Japanese carmaker to ensure those he held responsible for his ouster in 2018 are “in their beds”. Can’t sleep quietly”.

Ghosn recently filed the claim with the public prosecutor in Lebanon, where he has lived since his dramatic escape from Japan in late 2019 in a musical instrument box.

His lawsuit accuses Nissan and about a dozen individuals of defamation, slander, defamation and “fabricating material evidence.” The Japanese carmaker has declined to comment on the lawsuit.

“What I’m seeking is not revenge, I’m just trying to get back a part of my rights,” Ghosn said during an online news conference on Tuesday. “I just want to make sure that everything. , , The conspirators cannot sleep peacefully on their beds after their crime.”

Ghosn, once revered in Japan for rescuing Nissan from collapse after becoming president in 2000, was arrested in November 2018 on multiple financial misconduct allegations.

He has consistently denied those allegations, arguing that his spectacular downfall was the result of a conspiracy hatched by an old guard within the company, whose influence he was unable to fully eliminate.

“Nissan caused a lot of damage to me – damage that cannot be repaired. The only thing I can get is a small compensation for the damage, Ghosn said.

More than three years after his escape, Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, said he did not regret fleeing Japan despite the ban on his once lavish lifestyle.

Interpol issued a “wanted” notice for Ghosn in 2020 at the request of Japanese investigators. French prosecutors also issued an arrest warrant for Renault’s former chairman and chief executive last year.

Ghosn said, “To be honest, Lebanon’s judicial system is comparable to Japan’s judicial system.” “They will decide whether I am right or not.”

He also predicted that the partnership he had seen between the Japanese conglomerate and France’s Renault for almost decades would be reduced to “a miniature alliance”.

Nissan has been rocked by a bitter infighting within its top leadership that has led to the exit of one of the strongest opponents of the terms under which the Japanese group seeks to rebalance its capital alliance with Renault.

“With the latest agreement, they are trying to create a mini alliance with a very narrow scope of cooperation,” Ghosn said.