Ghosn says charges against him are ‘plot’ to stop integration between Renault and Nissan
Former Nissan chair Carlos Ghosn said today that charges against him in Japan were the result of "plot and treason" by Nissan executives opposed to deeper integration between Renault and its alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.
Ghosn, who is being held in prison in Tokyo, said he had “no doubt” the charges against him were part of a plot to prevent further integration.
Speaking to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Ghosn said plans to integrate Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi had been discussed.
According to Nikkei, some allies of Ghosn have said that fears of concentration of power under Ghosn prompted some Nissan executives to cooperate with Japanese prosecutors.
Ghosn denied he was dictatorial as a leader and said any such accusations were part of a narrative to undermine him.
"People translated strong leadership to dictator, to distort reality" for the "purpose of getting rid of me," he said.
Ghosn is being held for alleged financial misconduct, accused of underreporting his salary for several years and allegedly transferring his personal trading losses to Nissan.
He has denied all the accusations and said all of his transactions were signed off by the appropriate people.
Ghosn, who had been denied bail, said he was not a flight risk and would defend himself against all charges.
"I won't flee, I will defend [myself]," he added. "All the evidence is with Nissan, and Nissan forbids all employees to talk to me."