Former Nissan Motor Co chairman Carlos Ghosn leaves his lawyer’s office in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, May 23, 2019.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Earlier Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn filed a lawsuit against Lebanese prosecutors last month seeking more than $1 billion in damages from the company, according to a copy of the lawsuit seen by Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed May 18, charges Nissan, along with two other companies and 12 named individuals, with defamation, slander, defamation and forgery of physical evidence.
Prosecutors have scheduled a Sept. 18 hearing for the case, a judicial source said.
A Nissan spokesman said the company does not comment on the matter.
Ghosn, once a mogul in the global auto industry, was arrested in Japan in late 2018 and charged with financial misconduct. He has denied the allegation and said his detention was part of a plot by Nissan executives to block the merger.
In December 2019, he fled Japan, hiding in a box on a private jet, to his childhood hometown of Lebanon.
Ghosn has been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of underreporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriating company funds – charges he has repeatedly denied.
After arriving in Lebanon, Ghosn said he was fleeing Japan’s “rigged” justice system and that he intended to clear his name.