Carlos Ghosn speaks ... they treated me brutally and for these reasons I visited Israel

Carlos Ghosn, the former CEO of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors, said that Japanese prosecutors brutally extracted him from his family and friends, offering his apology to the Lebanese people for visiting Israel.

Ghosn spoke Saturday afternoon at the first press conference since his arrest in November 2018, and since he fled Japan to Lebanon last month.

"I am not above the law, and I escaped political persecution, and the decision to leave was the most difficult decision I made in my life," said Ghosn, a Brazilian of Lebanese origin born in France.

He indicated that he seeks through his speech to whiten his image in front of the world and explain what happened with him. Stressing that the charges against him are allegations that are not true, and do not warrant his arrest.

And he showed that he "had no choice" but to escape from Japan, because he was "considered guilty" before his guilt was proven in the tax evasion and corruption cases he was accused of.

"I am not here to talk about how I got out of Japan, but to say why I left," Ghosn said in his first public appearance since his arrival from Japan, where he was under house arrest pending his trial.

He added, "I was considered guilty before the eyes of the whole world," adding that he would not accuse Japanese officials. He said, "I impose silence on this part because I do not want to say anything that could harm the interests of the Lebanese people or the Lebanese government."

He said in a press conference held in the Lebanese capital Beirut, where he has been settling since fleeing Tokyo, that "collusion between April and the prosecutors (is) everywhere."

He added that Nissan had "lost $ 40 million per day" since its arrest in 2018. He added that the value of Renault "on the stock exchange lost more than five billion euros, or more than twenty million euros per day."

At the beginning of his speech, Carlos Ghosn said that Lebanon is "the only country that stood by him" in his crisis, adding, "I am in Lebanon, I respect Lebanon, and I respect the hospitality that the Lebanese authorities have given me."

He stressed that although he is not a political man, he is ready to put his experience in the service of Lebanon if asked to do so, indicating that he does not have to announce the names of those he met in Lebanon.

He made it clear that he had not visited Israel as a Lebanese citizen but rather as the President of Renault, and said that he had returned to Lebanon several times since visiting Israel and nothing happened.

It is noteworthy that the escape of Ghosn, who was awaiting trial on charges that include financial violations and tax evasion, constituted a widespread shock in Japan, where he was subject to severe security restrictions.

The Japanese judiciary charged him with four charges, including not declaring his entire income and using the Nissan company money that he saved from bankruptcy to make payments for personal knowledge and misappropriating the company’s funds for personal use. The total amount that has not been authorized is more than nine billion yen ($ 85 million) over an eight-year period.

Since his arrest on November 19, 2018, Ghosn has complained about the cruelty of the Japanese justice system and its reliance on the presumption of guilt before proving innocence, not the other way around.