Things are heating up for the former boss of Renault Nissan (RNBV). French justice has issued an international arrest warrant against Carlos Ghosn as part of an investigation conducted in particular for abuse of corporate assets and money laundering, said Friday morning the Nanterre prosecutor’s office. The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian, who was to be tried in Tokyo for financial embezzlement, has lived in Beirut since his incredible flight from Japan at the end of 2019. If the arrest warrant is executed, Carlos Ghosn will be directly presented to an investigating judge in Nanterre who will notify him of his indictment.
In Nanterre, investigators are interested in nearly 15 million euros in payments considered suspicious between RNBV and the distributor of the French car manufacturer in Oman, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles (SBA). The Nanterre investigating judge in charge of the investigation has issued five international arrest warrants in total: they target, in addition to Carlos Ghosn, “the current owners or ex-managers of the Omani company SBA”said the prosecution.
A mandate “very surprising” for Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer
“It is not an arrest warrant issued by France but by the court of Nanterre during an ongoing investigation, more precisely by the parquet floor of Nanterre”, reacted one of Carlos Ghosn’s lawyers, Jean Tamalet. For him, this mandate is “very surprising because the investigating judge and the Nanterre prosecutor know perfectly well that Carlos Ghosn, who has always cooperated with justice, is subject to a judicial ban on leaving Lebanese territory”. Contacted by AFP, Renault’s lawyer, a civil party in the proceedings, could not be reached on Friday morning.
During their investigations, the magistrates of Nanterre had already traveled twice to Beirut. Last February, they interviewed two witnesses there. In the previous June, they had proceeded, with magistrates from Paris, to the free hearing of Carlos Ghosn for five days, for the investigations targeting him in Nanterre and Paris.
Updated at 9:00 a.m. with the reaction of Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer.