Carlos Ghosn claimed Nissan would go bankrupt inside three years
Nissan will go bankrupt within two to three years, Carlos Ghosn told a defence attorney during more than 10 hours of interviews before the motor executive skipped bail and left Japan.
The former chairman and chief executive of Nissan and Renault made the prediction last year in a series of conversations about his arrest and prosecution, said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor who also is a vocal critic of Japan’s justice system.
“He told me that Nissan will probably go bankrupt within two to three years,” said Mr Gohara, who held a news conference in Tokyo to discuss his conversations with the now-fugitive auto titan.
Mr Ghosn didn’t offer detailed reasons why Nissan would run into difficulties, according to the lawyer.
Azusa Momose, a spokeswoman for Nissan, declined to comment. The Yokohama-based company is suffering from declining car sales in China and Europe, prompting it to slash profit and sales forecasts for the year ending March 31 and say it would eliminate 12,500 jobs globally.
Mr Gohara said he met with and interviewed Mr Ghosn five times during a two-month period, just before the former car executive fled, for a book he planned to publish before the start of Mr Ghosn’s trial, which no longer is likely to happen. Mr Gohara last met with Mr Ghosn two days before his December escape to Beirut.
The attorney said he had permission from Mr Ghosn to disclose the details of their conversations.
Mr Gohara regularly comments on issues surrounding the Japanese justice system in his blog and television appearances. Since Mr Ghosn’s arrest, he’s also criticised what he calls Japan’s “hostage justice” system and the country’s recent introduction of plea bargaining.
The 65-year-old Mr Ghosn, speaking earlier this month from Beirut, said he fled Japan because he no longer thought he would have a fair and speedy trial.
The former executive was facing several charges of financial misconduct, including under reporting his income and breach of trust. In the latter charges, Japanese prosecutors accused him of transferring personal trading losses to Nissan and using company funds for his own and his family’s gains.
Mr Ghosn insisted he was the victim of a conspiracy to take him out because he was working on a merger of Nissan and Renault.
