Carlos Ghosn, the disgraced former Nissan executive who jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon, has filed a $1bn lawsuit against his former employer.
Ghosn, the mastermind of a carmaking alliance with Renault that also later involved Mitsubishi Motors, was detained in Japan in November 2018 amid allegations of financial misconduct involving a plot to deliberately underreport his remuneration.
Ghosn, who dodged trial in an audacious escape to Beirut in an audio equipment case, is now suing Nissan and connected individuals for more than $1bn (£785m).
The former auto executive has filed his claims with the public prosecutor in the court of cassation in Lebanon.
Ghosn, who was born in Brazil to Lebanese immigrant parents has lived in Lebanon since fleeing Japan at the end of 2019.
He had spent 13 months in Japanese custody or living under strict bail conditions, including 24-hour surveillance of his Tokyo home. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.
According to the court filings, which were submitted last month and translated from Arabic to English, Ghosn is seeking compensation for “deep damages” to his finances and reputation.
Ghosn and his former colleague Greg Kelly, who last year was found guilty by a court in Tokyo of helping Ghosn hide part of 9.3bn yen (£60m; $80.4m) of his income from financial regulators, have denied wrongdoing.
“The serious and sensitive accusations [against me] will linger in people’s mind for years,” said Ghosn in the lawsuit.
The 69-year-old added that he “will suffer from them for the remainder of his life, as they have persistent and lingering impacts, even if based on mere suspicion”.
Ghosn, who also faces an international arrest warrant relating to the Renault-Nissan alliance issued by France last year, claims $588m in lost compensation and costs, as well as $500m in punitive measures.
The lawsuit also makes claims against at least a dozen people including two Nissan board members and various other employees that Ghosn alleges were part of a plot to oust him.
Lebanon’s public prosecutor has set a hearing for September, although a representative for Nissan said the company had neither received the lawsuit nor been made aware of it, according to Bloomberg.
Ghosn’s 18-page legal claim also outlines the plan he was working on to unite Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors in a larger alliance with Fiat Chrysler.
He claims the plan to make this partnership irreversible is what prompted a plot at Nissan to get him ousted.
Ghosn alleges that efforts made by Nissan to adequately compensate him to stop him potentially leaving to join a rival global carmaker were later “criminalised” to oust him.
In 1999, he was sent by Renault to help rejuvenate the ailing Nissan, which at the time was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, after a deal struck between the French and Japanese auto manufacturers.
He later became chair of both companies as well as the alliance, which was expanded when Mitsubishi Motors joined as a junior partner in 2016. Earlier this year, elements of the alliance were renegotiated to repair troubled relations stemming from the original deal.
