CAIRO -- Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn is not speaking to the media as frequently as he did soon after jumping bail in Japan and fleeing to Lebanon late last year -- instead he is reportedly focusing on wining and dining with others, apparently to widen his network of contacts.
Ghosn, 66, was recently determined by Japanese tax authorities to have misappropriated a large sum of Nissan Motor's money for personal purposes.
According to one of his friends who attended a dinner party with Ghosn in May this year, Ghosn talked proudly about his "dramatic escape" from Japan, admitting that he left the country hidden in a black box.
He also revealed that he had received an offer from a U.S. video streaming company to make a movie about him. Ghosn was said to be in good humor throughout the party, saying while holding his wife's hand, "Thanks to Carole, I have been able to lead a new life."
Ghosn continues to assert his innocence, and has reportedly been positive toward the idea of a movie about himself. "It might help people who face injustice," Ghosn is quoted as saying.
A huge explosion occured on Aug. 4 in the Beirut port area, about 2 kilometers away from Ghosn's house, injuring 6,000 people. Ghosn and his family were reportedly staying at a resort area in a mountainous region in the northeast of Lebanon at the time. His house in Beirut was said to have been damaged only to the extent of some broken windows.
Ghosn has been indicted on such charges as violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, for having understated his remuneration as a director by about 9.1 billion yen on the company's securities reports. He has also been accused of a special breach of trust, by illicitly making payments out of Nissan's funds to people including a Saudi Arabian acquaintance and Nissan's sales agent in Oman.
None of the misappropriations of Nissan funds for personal purposes by Ghosn, which have been recognized by the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, have been handled as a criminal case.
--Extradition difficult
Ghosn proclaimed his innocence at a press conference held in January in Lebanon, with foreign media present. He also criticized Japan's criminal justice system, leading to an unusual development in which rebuttals were made by Japanese judicial authorities and prosecutors.
The Japanese government has made Ghosn internationally wanted through the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), and called on Lebanon to extradite him to Japan.
However, Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon, so the matter has been left up to the judiciary judgement of that nation. Given the existence of a domestic law in Lebanon that bans the extradition of its own nationals to a foreign country, the prospects are dismal.
The Tokyo District Court has separated the public trial of defendant Greg Kelly, 63, former representative director of Nissan, and Nissan as a corporation -- both indicted on charges of violating the same law as Ghosn -- from the Ghosn's case. Their first public trial is scheduled for Sept. 15.
Nissan has sued Ghosn for about 10 billion yen in damages, including the misappropriations of Nissan money for personal purposes, which was recognized recently by the Tokyo Reginal Taxation Bureau. Even if Nissan wins the case, however, it is considered difficult to seize the property of Ghosn, who lives abroad.
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