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BEIRUT – A team of French investigators will come to Beirut next month to participate in the interrogation of former Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, an Lebanese justice ministry official said on Saturday.
The official did not give a specific date or details of what information the investigators would seek from Ghosn.
Former automotive executive Ghosn, who is Lebanese, Brazilian and French, fled Japan in a dramatic escape that made headlines last year, arriving in Lebanon on December 30, 2019.
In addition to his trial in Japan, the 66-year-old businessman faces a number of legal challenges in France, including tax evasion and alleged money laundering, fraud and misuse of company assets while in charge of the Renault-Nissan alliance.
Carlos Ghosn, former CEO of Nissan Motor Co., poses for a photo in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, August 25, 2020. (Tamara Abdul Hadi / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said French investigators would be working alongside his Lebanese colleagues.
Information about the investigations is secret under French law, and French judicial authorities did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday on the report.
After leading Japanese automaker Nissan for two decades, Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on charges of breach of trust, misuse of company assets for personal gain and violation of securities laws for not fully disclosing his compensation . He denied any wrongdoing and fled Japan while on bail and awaiting trial. It is unlikely that he will be extradited from Lebanon, where he has been since last year.
At least two investigations related to Ghosn have been opened in France. One focused on suspicious transactions between Renault and a distributor in Oman, as well as suspicious payments for travel and private events paid for by the Netherlands-based Renault-Nissan holding RNBV.
In this archive photo from January 10, 2020, former Nissan president Carlos Ghosn speaks to Japanese media during an interview in Beirut, Lebanon. (Meika Fujio / Kyodo News via AP, Archive)
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Another investigation focused on the suspected misuse of company funds for a party for Ghosn in Versailles.
The French inquiry aims to determine who is to blame for a series of alleged financial breaches between 2009 and 2020.
This includes “suspicious financial flows” between Renault and the car dealership SBA in Oman. This aspect of the investigation targets several million euros in travel and other costs paid by Renault-Nissan, based in the Netherlands, which owns the RNBV, but is suspected to have been for Ghosn’s personal use.
French lawyers in Ghosn said the payments to the SBA were “justified bonuses” for boosting car sales in the Persian Gulf and denied claims that the funds benefited Ghosn or his family personally.
Renault said last year that an internal audit with Nissan found 11 million euros in questionable expenses at the RNBV allegedly linked to Ghosn, including air travel, personal expenses and donations to nonprofits.