Ghosn proposes judicial interrogation in lebanon
The former car boss carlos ghosn proposes to the french justice to question him at his place of residence beirut in lebanon.
"There is a technical obstacle," ghosn told the french regional newspaper "le parisien". "My passport is in the hands of the attorney general in lebanon, as japan has issued an international arrest warrant against me."
Japan seeks extradition of fugitive former top manager. Ghosn demanded in view of the judicial inquiry that his safety must be guaranteed. According to the newspaper, the conversation was held in beirut.
The architect of the french-japanese car alliance renault-nissan-mitsubishi was on 19. November 2018 in tokyo was arrested and charged with, among other things, violating borsen requirements. In april 2019, he was released on bail from pretrial detention under strict conditions. Ghosn then fled in dubious circumstances at the end of december in a private jet via turkey to beirut, among other places. It is said to have been hidden in a box that was declared at the airport as a pack for musical instruments and was not checked through. Ghosn has repeatedly denied the accusations against him in japan.
The 66-year-old said in the interview that he was ready to answer all questions from the french investigating judge. According to "parisien", there was a convocation of the investigating judge on 13. July in nanterre near paris, which ghosn had not followed. The french judiciary has long been investigating a suspected embezzlement of funds at renault by ghosn. The accusations of misuse of company property, breach of trust and concealment at the french carmaker are at stake.
Renault reported a slump in sales for the first half of the year due to the corona crisis. Compared with the same period last year, sales have fallen by 34.9 percent, with around 1.26 million vehicles sold, according to the manufacturer in boulogne-billancourt near paris.
In europe, the decline of 41.8 percent to around 624,000 vehicles was above average. Sales picked up again in june. The most important markets worldwide for renault and its subsidiaries are france, russia and germany.
The french-japanese auto alliance had slid into a deep crisis after the ghosn scandal. Renault then ran into financial difficulties in recent months; the manufacturer can now draw on a government-guaranteed loan of up to five billion euros. Plans now call for the elimination of 15 production sites worldwide.000 jobs.
In the interview, ghosn described the current business results of renault and nissan as "pitiful". He justified – as in previous interviews – his balance sheet to the automobile association. According to the newspaper, the brazilian-born ghosn will publish a book of revelations in the fall.