Ex-Nissan chief accuses firm's executives of ‘backstabbing’ plot
TOKYO: Carlos Ghosn has accused "backstabbing" Nissan executives of a "conspiracy" to have him arrested over fears he planned to merge the Japanese firm with France's Renault, in a video released yesterday.
The footage, recorded shortly before Ghosn was re-arrested by prosecutors in Tokyo last week, did not however point the finger at specific individuals, with the tycoon's lawyer saying it had been edited to remove names.
The video was the latest twist in a roller-coaster case that has defied expectations since the shock arrest of the 65-year-old last November.
In the brief recording, played by his lawyers at a press conference, Ghosn appeared at a desk in a white shirt and black suit jacket and repeated that he was "innocent of all the charges that have been brought against me".
He denounced a "conspiracy" against him and said events had been "twisted in a way to paint a personage of greed, a personage of dictatorship".
"This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing," he said in the video.
He said the "conspiracy" was motivated by "a fear that the next step of the alliance in terms of convergence and in terms of moving towards a merger would in a certain way threaten some people or eventually threaten the autonomy of Nissan".
In addition to heading Nissan, Ghosn also oversaw the alliance that groups the automaker with Renault and Japan's Mitsubishi Motors. He has previously suggested that concerns at Nissan about closer integration led to his arrest.
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