The former Renault-Nissan boss faced the media for the first time since he fled Japan. Here’s what we learned

Carlos Ghosn, the former Renault-Nissan chair, made his long-awaited appearance before the world’s media on Wednesday at a lengthy and often rambling press conference in Beirut.

Here are the key points from his appearance.

1) Ghosn blames a conspiracy between Nissan executives and forces within the Japanese government to bring him down. He named former Nissan chief Hiroto Saikawa, whistleblower Hari Nada and board member Masakazu Toyoda, adding:



My unimaginable ordeal is the result of a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive individuals.

He refused to name which government officials were to blame, beyond appearing to absolve PM Shinzo Abe.

2) Japan’s judicial system is in the spotlight. Ghosn criticised the Japanese legal culture of securing criminal convictions through confessions.



Accusing the Japanese justice system of attempting to destroy his life, Ghosn said:

I was brutally taken from my work as I knew it, ripped from my work, my family and my friends. It is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation and my profound appreciation to be able to be reunited with my family and loved ones. (I was) interrogated for up eight hours a day without any lawyers present. ‘It will get worse for you if you don’t just confess’, the prosecutor told me repeatedly.

3) Ghosn claims he has proof that he is innocent. Reporters were shown some documents which allegedly explain away the $11m (£8.4m) of expense payments that form part of the criminal case against him.



He also produced a letter approving the houses bought for the Ghosn family, signed by Saikawa.

Ghosn said he planned to prove his innocence.

I don’t consider myself as a prisoner in Lebanon. I prefer this prison to the one before. I am ready to stay a long time in Lebanon, but I am going to fight because I have to clear my name.

4) Ghosn has probably burned his bridges in Japan. Savaging the Tokyo prosecutor is one thing. But citing Pearl Harbor as an example of Japanese cunning and secrecy was diplomatically damaging.

Ghosn’s point was that he didn’t spot how his one-time allies were plotting to oust him, to break Renault’s control over Nissan – and scupper a planned merged with Fiat-Crysler. But still, it was an awkward analogy that will distract from his claims of innocence.

5) He is devoted to Mrs Ghosn. Ghosn joked that he missed his wife badly when he was trapped in Japan, even if others might not.

I’ve been in a kind of nightmare for 13 months. It started when I saw the face of the prosecutor, and it ended when I saw the face of my wife.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Carlos Ghosn and Carole Carole arrive to face the media. Photograph: -/AFP via Getty Images

6) Lebanon might not be as safe as he had hoped. Fleeing to Beirut looked like a cunning plan, as there’s no extradition treaty with Japan. But there is a law banning travel to Israel, which Ghosn has broken in the past.

Beirut’s prosecutor wants to discuss this with Ghosn on Thursday, alongside the red notice issued by Interpol for his arrest.

7) Exact details of Ghosn’s great escape from Tokyo, particularly whether he was smuggled on to a plane inside a music case, will remain a mystery – for now. On this point, he remained tightlipped. But he could be saving it for the film version of the entire caper (although he denied that there was a deal in place with Netflix).