Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is accused of fraud, corruption, money laundering and misuse of company assets.<\/b>
\nBEIRUT \u2014 Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn sat before French investigative judges in Beirut who questioned him for several hours Monday over suspicions of financial misconduct. His defense lawyers called it \u201ca very important day\u201d for the auto magnate-turned-fugitive. The meeting marked the first opportunity for Ghosn to defend himself against the French allegations \u2013 including spending on lavish parties and private planes \u2013 since his 2018 bombshell arrest in Japan and escape to Lebanon a year later. \u201cIt is an occasion that Mr. Ghosn has waited for a long time to show that the accusations brought against him are baseless,\u201d Jean Yves Le Borgne, a member of Ghosn\u2019s defense team, told reporters in Beirut. He said the questioning was expected to last several days. The questioning at the Palace of Justice in Beirut lasted about six hours, including a lunch break. Ghosn did not make any comments to reporters and Lebanese security forces kept journalists away from the gate where he entered and exited the courthouse. Ghosn is campaigning to clear his name against multiple legal challenges in France after Japanese accusations triggered scrutiny of his activities there. In a wide ranging interview with The Associated Press last week, he said he hopes the visit by French investigators to Lebanon will be his first real opportunity to defend himself. He also said he had much more confidence in the French legal system than the Japanese system he had fled. Ghosn has not so far been charged with anything in France, but could be, given preliminary accusations of fraud, corruption, money laundering, misuse of company assets, or aggravated breach of trust. The French investigators are looking into the financing of lavish parties Ghosn threw at the Versailles Palace \u2013 complete with period costumes and copious Champagne \u2013 as the head of the Renault-Nissan car alliance. They\u2019re also examining 11 million euros in spending on private planes and events arranged by a Dutch holding company, and subsidies to a car dealership in Oman. Ghosn told the AP he has done nothing wrong and hopes the investigations are eventually dropped. Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on accusations of financial misconduct and was kept in solitary confinement for months without being allowed to speak with his wife. He fled to Lebanon a year later in a Hollywood-style escape that stunned the world. Meanwhile, several associates are in jail or on trial in Japan and Turkey, in cases related to his financial activities or escape. Jean Tamalet, one of two French lawyers representing Ghosn along with one Lebanese attorney, said Monday\u2019s meeting was \u201cthe very first time of justice\u201d for Ghosn since being arrested in Japan, adding that it was \u201cthe first time he could explain himself in front of judges with his lawyers seated near him and after preparing his defense.\u201d \u201cSo it was a very important day for him today and he was very happy to give all the answers to all the questions asked by the French judges,\u201d he said. In a statement earlier Monday, Ghosn\u2019s lawyers said their client will be questioned by \u201cFrench investigating judges, in the context of legal proceedings organized by the Lebanese judicial authorities.\u201d The statement added that the \u201chearing is a voluntary step taken\u201d by Ghosn. Ghosn\u2019s defense team said they have \u201calready identified serious procedural irregularities in the French dossiers.\u201d The defense team said \u201cabnormalities, which undermine the judicial process, are the result of the peculiar methods of the Japanese investigation\u201d that was the primary source for building the French cases. It is an unusual move for French magistrates to question a suspect abroad. Ghosn, who was given sanctuary by Lebanese authorities, grew up in Lebanon and has Lebanese citizenship. Lebanon will not extradite him. Monday\u2019s interrogation comes days after Ghosn was questioned by French investigators as a witness in a different case \u2013 a probe into Renault\u2019s pollutant emissions, according to two Lebanese officials. Renault, along with other carmakers, is facing an investigation that dates back to 2017 over cheating on emission tests, a charge the company denies. It follows earlier investigations by French anti-fraud authorities who found abnormally high emissions from some of Renault\u2019s diesel engineered cars. Ghosn had been with Renault since 1996, until its alliance with Nissan in 1999. Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here\u2019s why. Use the form below to reset your password. 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