(FILES) In this file photograph taken on November 8, 2018. Chairman and CEO of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Carlos Ghosn looks on during a visit of the French President to a Renault factory at Maubeuge, northern France. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
TOKYO — Nissan’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday he was in Lebanon and was not fleeing justice, but instead sought to avoid “injustice and political persecution” in a criminal trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct.
Ghosn was out on bail in Japan before his departure. He disclosed his location in a statement through his representatives Tuesday that did not describe how he left the country. Conditions of his release on bail banned him from traveling overseas. He promised to talk to reporters next week.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” the statement said.
Japanese media quoted prosecutors speaking anonymously who said they did not know how Ghosn had left the country while under surveillance.
Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origin and holds French and Lebanese passports, was arrested in Japan in November 2018 and is facing various financial misconduct allegations, He was expected to face trial in April 2020.
Prosecutors fought his release, but a court granted him bail with conditions that he be monitored and he could not meet with his wife Carole, who is also of Lebanese origin. Recently the court allowed them to speak by video calls.
Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. It is unclear what steps the authorities might take.
Ghosn has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped-up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA.
He has been charged with under-reporting his future compensation and of breach of trust.
During his release on bail, Ghosn had been going daily to the office of his main lawyer Junichiro Hironaka to work on his case. Hironaka has not commented on Ghosn’s departure from the country.
Earlier, Ricardo Karam, a television host and friend of Ghosn who interviewed him several times, told The Associated Press that Ghosn arrived in Lebanon Monday morning..”He is home,” Karam told the AP in a message. “It’s a big adventure.”
Karam declined to elaborate.
The Lebanese took special pride in the auto industry icon, who speaks fluent Arabic and visited regularly. Born in Brazil, where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut, where he spent part of his childhood at a Jesuit school.
Ghosn was credited with leading a spectacular turnaround at Nissan beginning in the late 1990s.