Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday that the French ambassador had warned him shortly after his arrest that Nissan was plotting against him.
Speaking in Beirut, Ghosn said he was shocked by the sudden arrest only to learn that there was a plot against him from his own company.
“Frankly, I was shocked by the arrest and the first thing I asked is make sure Nissan knows so they can send me a lawyer,” Ghosn told Reuters.
“And the second day, 24 hours from this, I received a visit from the French ambassador who told me: ‘Nissan is turning against you’. And this is where I realized that the whole thing was a plot.”
Ghosn, 65, fled Japan last month while awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds.
Ghosn denies all the accusations against him.
For her part, Ghosn's wife, Carole, said she was "done with Japan".
According to Reuters, after Ghosn appeared in Beirut, the Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Carole on suspicion of alleged perjury related to the misappropriation charge against her husband.
“What they’re accusing me of is a bit of a joke,” she said.
“I testified for hours and they told me you are free to go, and now, nine months later... this comes up. They are vindictive. This has nothing to do with the law," the 54-year-old Lebanese-US national noted.
She said she believed her husband would never get a fair trial and expressed her approval over his escape.
“I’m happy he did it,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, Japan’s justice minister has said Ghosn’s escape from his trial could constitute a crime.
The ministry also said it will try to find a way to bring Ghosn back from Lebanon, even the countries have no extradition treaty.
