Ghosn is suing Nissan for $1 billion over finances and reputation

The lawsuit also brings claims against at least a dozen people, including:

• Hari Nada, a Nissan employee seen as one of the main instigators of the plan to oust Ghosn
• Hidetoshi Imazu and Hitoshi Kawaguchitwo senior Nissan executives with early involvement in Nissan’s actions against Ghosn
• Toshiaki Behaviora manager in the CEO’s office, who along with Nada agreed to cooperate with Japanese prosecutors to avoid prosecution
• Masakazu Toyoda and believe Nagaitwo Nissan board members

A Nissan spokesperson said the company would not comment on the matter.

The lawsuit includes other individuals and entities, which have not yet been served, according to Ghosn̵[ads1]7;s legal representative. Lebanon’s attorney general has set a hearing for September. Authorities in Lebanon may request cooperation from their Japanese counterparts to investigate Ghosn’s claims.

It is not clear whether Japan’s legal system, which Ghosn has said is “rigged” and “violates the most basic principles of humanity,” would be willing to cooperate with authorities in Lebanon, which does not extradite its citizens.

In 2020, a UN panel found that Ghosn’s detention in a Japanese prison for more than 100 days was neither necessary nor reasonable and violated his rights. The decision to arrest Ghosn four consecutive times to extend his detention was “fundamentally unjust”, according to the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The 18-page claim includes Ghosn’s plans to bring Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors into a grand alliance with Fiat Chrysler, he says fuel concerns within Nissan in early 2018 that he was attempting to make the partnership irreversible.

Nada and others then laid the foundations for having Ghosn arrested to remove him from Nissan and the alliance, according to Ghosn.

Ghosn also described his intentions to take a voluntary pay cut in 2011 after new disclosure rules in Japan sparked efforts to find legal means to retain and pay him during his retirement. These plans eventually became the basis for the arrest of Ghosn and Greg Kelly, a former Nissan executive involved in the pay discussions.

A court ruling last year acquitted Kelly of most charges and fined Nissan.

VW, Ford, GM job offers

Ghosn described how he received job offers from Volkswagen Group, Ford and a more lucrative salary to join General Motors, but decided to stay with the alliance after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

He said efforts at Nissan to find ways to compensate and retain him were criminalized because it was the only “means found by the conspirators to get rid of him as chairman.”

Nada and others then waged a “defamation campaign to tarnish his image,” Ghosn claims in the lawsuit. The claim also details the involvement of the Japanese and French governments, the purging of certain people from Nissan that followed Ghosn’s arrest, problems with the company’s internal investigation of the case and damage caused to shareholders as a result of the actions.

In a way, the lawsuit is crystallization of Ghosn’s attempt to clear his name after his arrival in Lebanon, where in early 2020 he held an epic press conference condemning his arrest. Ghosn spent part of his childhood in the countryside and lives in a house bought and restored by Nissan, which he had planned to buy from the company upon retirement.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report