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Japan swift to condemn fugitive Ghosn's remarks as one-sided

By WANG XU in Tokyo | China Daily | Updated: 2020-01-10 09:27

Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn speaks during a news conference at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on Wednesday. MOHAMED AZAKIR/REUTERS

Japan's government and prosecutors on Thursday condemned as one-sided claims by Nissan's fugitive former boss Carlos Ghosn that sought to justify his escape from custody to Lebanon.

"His claims are one-sided and are completely unconvincing," said Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, in response to a packed news conference given by Ghosn in Beirut on Wednesday.

Suga said that whether Ghosn would be extradited to Japan was Lebanon's decision. However, Japan would cooperate closely with international organizations "so that Japan's criminal justice system can be operated appropriately", he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori said Ghosn's illegal departure from Japan "could never be forgiven under the system of any country".

The government "can never overlook (his attempt to) propagate erroneous facts about the legal system and its management in our country in a bid to justify his acts", she said.

"Ghosn should openly and squarely seek judgment by a court under our country's fair criminal justice system if he hopes to fight the allegations against him."

Mori's comments came shortly after the former auto executive made his first public comments since fleeing Japan for Lebanon.

At a near three-hour news conference before more than 100 journalists, Ghosn switched between English, Arabic, French and Portuguese in a bid to convince a worldwide audience that the criminal charges of financial wrongdoing filed against him were part of a vast conspiracy to take him down in Japan.

Ghosn asserted there was a "systematic campaign by a handful of malevolent actors to destroy my reputation and impugn my character" because he had planned to deepen the alliance between Japan's Nissan and France-based carmaker Renault.

"I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and political persecution," Ghosn said. "I was left with no other choice but to protect myself and my family.

"I felt I was a hostage of a country that I have served for 17 years."

Ghosn, who had run an auto empire that spanned continents, was arrested in late 2018 and charged with four counts of financial misconduct while running Nissan, one of Japan's big carmakers.

He stunned Japan last week by jumping bail and fleeing the country.

Ghosn was reluctant to give an account of his daring international escape at the news conference, but said "there is a lot of imagination" in some media accounts of his brazen flight.

Dai Erbiao, vice-president of the Asian Growth Research Institute in Fukuoka, Japan, said Ghosn's fall from acclaim as an international entrepreneur to international fugitive is not only a personal tragedy but one felt by Nissan and Japan.

"Japan, a country that is striving to explore the road to economic revitalization, is currently not lacking technology or capital but entrepreneurs who have a global vision and the mindset to dare to challenge old ways," Dai said.

 

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