While the former CEO of Nissan and Renault Carlos Ghosn is currently in jail, his lawyer and communication team released a new video statement. The seven-minute video was shot hours before his latest arrest. Ghosn claims that there’s a conspiracy against him. “This is about back-stabbing,” he said.
“If you are listening to me through this video today, it means that I was not able to make the press conference that I planned for April, 11,” Ghosn said.
Ghosn took advantage of every minute he had before his latest arrests. He created a Twitter account, was interviewed by multiple journalists, wrote a statement and recorded this video message.
“I'm innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me,” Ghosn said. “And I'm also innocent of all the accusations that came around the charges, that are all biased, taken out of context, twisted in a way to paint a personnage of greed and a personnage of dictatorship.”
The prosecutors currently suspect Ghosn of misappropriating company funds for personal use — according to the allegations, he used Nissan funds to buy a yacht and invest in a San Francisco-based startup founded by his son.
Ghosn didn’t say anything about the latest allegations against him. Most of the video focuses on his relationship with Nissan.
“The third point that I want to tell you is that this is a conspiracy. This is not about specific events. This is not about — again — greed. This is not about dictatorship. This is about a plot. this is about conspiracy. This is about back-stabbing. That's what we're talking about,” Ghosn said.
According to him, Nissan executives wants more autonomy for the car manufacturer. Ghosn thinks they feared Nissan would be deeply integrated with Renault. He also claims that he’s always been defending the autonomy of Nissan.
“Finally, what I would like to say is that my big hope, my biggest wish is to have a fair trial,” Ghosn said.
This video message has been released days after his arrests. It feels like Ghosn’s team is running a campaign to improve his chances for his trial. Carlos Ghosn’s wife Carole Ghosn has also given interviews over the last few days, pleading with the French government to intervene.
