Ousted Nissan Motor (and Renault) chief Carlos Ghosn has reiterated he is “innocent” in a video released by his lawyer.
Ghosn had said via Twitter last week he would hold a press conference on Thursday 11 April but was re-arrested on additional charges the day after as Renault cut his pay and pension.
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Ghosn also described himself as the victim of “a conspiracy” in a video that was recorded before his arrest last week.
“I am innocent,” Ghosn said.
He said he loved both Nissan and Japan and had served around 20 years with the company. He said the automaker’s performance was not good and that there had been several profit warnings in recent years.
He denied he had been making plans that threatened the future autonomy of the company.
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By GlobalDataHe also said the Alliance appeared to have no vision for its future.
He said his “biggest wish is to have a fair trial”, adding his lawyers don’t show “serenity about the fairness of the trial”.
He did not address specific details of the accusations against him.
The Japan Times said the video originally included the names of Nissan personnel who Ghosn claimed are involved in the alleged conspiracy to expunge him from the company.
However, Junichiro Hironaka, his lawyer, told the paper Ghosn’s defence team had redacted those names.
Prosecutors last week convinced a Tokyo court to detain Ghosn for 10 days for further questioning until 14 April.
On Monday (8 April), an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in Tokyo approved all the resolutions to discharge Ghosn as a director, discharge Greg Kelly as a director and confirm new Renault chairman Jean-Dominique Senard as a director.
