Carlos Ghosn to speak out on escape from Japan

Beirut: Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will give a hotly awaited press conference in Lebanon on Wednesday, his spokesman said, offering clarity on his recent flight from Japan.

Since arriving in his native Lebanon after skipping bail in Japan almost a week ago, the 65-year-old businessman has given few media statements.

The circumstances of his flight from Japan, where he was under strict house arrest facing charges of financial misconduct, remain unclear.

The press conference will be held in Beirut on January 8 at 3pm local time (5pm UAE), his spokesman told AFP without giving further details.

The Japanese government responded Sunday for the first time since his flight. “The escape of an accused on bail is unjustifiable,” Japan’s justice minister Masako Mori said in a statement.

Before fleeing, Ghosn was awaiting trial over multiple counts of financial misconduct that he denied.

It was the latest twist in a saga that has gripped the business world and his escape from Japan has left authorities there red-faced and scrambling to defend their justice system from fierce international criticism.

Ghosn’s high-profile arrest in November 2018 and his long detention under severe conditions were widely considered draconian compared with the West.

He twice won bail by persuading the court he was not a flight risk – decisions seen as controversial at the time.

Ghosn himself has said he left Japan because he was no longer willing to be “held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system.”